Reckoning
by Nommy
Summary: From the grime, destitute and poverty of Gotham's underbelly another soul is risen, pulled from the dirt and ice by a man, a beast, who could only lift another once before. Gotham's reckoning is at hand and when you've already been dragged to the surface by the people who were your undoing, one must pick a side. Bane/OC eventual, slight AU.
1. A City of Snow

**I. Prologue**

**A City of Snow**

D'you know what the difference between a monster and a man is? For a start, the man is just as misunderstood by the monster as the monster is to the man. The monster cannot put into words why he cannot comprehend this thing, this normal thing; while the man, cannot and will not try to understand and accept this other thing, this freakish thing. Although the monster's nature is to break, tear and snarl; the man's is to kill, shun and judge. So, even if they could understand each other, there would really be no different outcome. They would still hate each other based on their similarities. There is no clear divide between man and monster, between a creature and a person – only what is perceived by those around them, fellow monsters and people. But they are all there. Each and every one of them fall into one category or the other, it doesn't matter what calibre; you will all be judged and denied.

How does one become a monster? Well, any number of reasons. Noble or wicked there are always motives for why a normal man would risk the enmity of the conventional masses and become a monster. After the Dent Act, though, they are all crushed and smashed together. It doesn't matter who did what and why; you will be judged and denied. Denied the sight of the sun, the whistle of the wind, the laughter of a fellow man; now, you be privy to the jeer of an equal monster, the violence of barbarous demons and the thrashing of their anger, their carnage.

It doesn't matter. It never matters. Everywhere is the same; you're thrown down into the pit of devils and told you will be confined there forever, not even until you've atoned. Simply forever.

"_They made their choices_."

"_You had your chance_."

Now you must rot. Now you must stay here for eternity. Blamed for things you did not do. Martyred for offences you did not commit. Scorned by people you did not wrong. Embraced by the so called monsters and lashed by the innocents. What has this life come to? A different class of justice. Justice with teeth they say. Willingly giving up your only means of anything, food, money, clothes for your back just so you don't get flung in a cell to be eaten alive by the inmates. So you starve, cold on the streets; your socks are wet, your shivering but at least you're abiding the law, but not because you're a law abiding citizen. Does that make you a monster? Yes and you will be judged and denied.

Forever. There is no end to this, it is an eternity and freezing to death, slumped in an alleyway praying for some miracle is the lesser of two evils. Something has to happen. Gotham needs something to happen. We can't hold out much longer, the snows are so cold at this time of year that even the flaming drums of old newspaper splutter, the flames choked by the cold. They gutter and die just like the starving, living under the elite; their boots stand heavily on our shoulders, our backs; breaking our spines beyond repair and all we can do like cornered dogs, is back up and snarl resentfully, our hackles up.

That's it, the cold's too much, one falls – face down in the snow. A desperate hand comes out for a railing, she's trying to grip the cold metal and pull herself free of this poverty but to no avail. A cough, a shiver and then a sigh at the futility of her plight. She'd steal a morsel of food if the penance were not so high. If the penance were not so brutal.

Something has to happen. It can't go on like this.


	2. A Warm Hand

**II. **

**A Warm Hand**

_Even vagrants dream._

_Sometimes I don't know if I am where I should be. If we are all allocated a place then why do people rise beyond their wildest imaginations? People rise on their looks, rarely on their talent, on their family connections rather than the friendships they've forged. I wonder if I might yet be elevated to a wonderful place above the clouds and not below the earth, encrusted under the ice like the bones of an ancient animal, found and yet forgotten. Often I shake my head at these dreams of providence that still haunt me even into my adult life; dreams of amazing things happening to one such as yourself can be forgiven in a child. Maybe I will fly, fly up high into the towers of the city. Maybe I will tear down the bright lights and reassemble them in my own styling; my own name. Everything I ever envisioned...I think the city would look better in my image for there would be no cold and nobody would be thrown down, save for those few who were higher than me._

"_We are now approaching Gotham Lower_."

The tannoy announced overhead, the mechanical voice grinding her ears. Lily sighed as she hefted herself off of the train's uncomfortable seat and gripped the headrest and peered over the carriage. It was simply force of habit; making sure there were no thugs onboard. She had been sleeping for most of the rickety journey so she had to make sure. She yawned and shrugged, she was alone.

She got up heavily; her bulky black jacket-coat was slipping down one of her thin shoulders. With a groan she pulled it up so that it did not hang from her slight body so askew and threw her hood over her head. Fiddling with the zip sent a wave of annoyance over her as her cold fingers couldn't quite grip the finicky little thing. She hissed and spun round as she noticed the carriage door closing; her eyes widened as she made a break for the closing door and breathed a deep sigh when she just made it onto the cold platform. The platform was empty of all things, save for the fat and grubby little pigeons that all bobbed about stupidly looking for morsels of food.

Lily sighed again and stuffed her purple hands under her armpits for warmth; her breath was a white plume of air in this damnable cold. She started along the platform then, the two ends ended in darkness, the tunnel mouth's gaping and dark ready to consume the trains as they carried on along their routes. Lily felt herself shiver; she had slept in a few of those train tunnels, it was anything but pleasant. One always ran the risk of having their arms or legs cut off by the train's wheels as they shot past quickly and so loudly Lily once thought a bomb had went off.

As she reached the double doors that lead out of the station, Lily rolled her eyes. She had been so close, so damned close, home free she'd say, now she'd need to make small-talk with him; and she really couldn't be bothered.

"Lil!"

With a nod of defeat, Lily raised her hand feebly and let out a sharp cough that racked her body; the sound of it almost sounded hollow and made her back sore afterwards. Officer Blake was in front of her now, frowning as she waved her hand to stop him coming closer and half-turned her back so she wouldn't cough on him. After another minute, she looked back and Blake was looking at her,

"You should head on over to Gotham General, get checked out." He offered.

Lily nodded dourly and folded her arms again, with sniff she said cagily,

"Blake, what can I do for you? I'm not loitering and I wasn't planning on staying here either-"

"Hey, hey," He said with a shake of his head, "I was just passing. We got a call about gangs around the area, I'm just patrolling."

Lily nodded and felt her nose redden.

"So, how're you doing? Have you been down to that shelter yet?"

"No..." Lily averted her hazel eyes before flicking her worried gaze back to Blake,

"I'm not going on some register, I'm fine."

"The register's just to help you find work, Lil."

"I don't care, I'm fine. Things are looking up anyway,"

Seeing his incredulous expression, Lily chuckled and shook her head – dimples flashed at her cheeks. Sniffling again, she moved forward a touch and placed a hand on Blake's arm,

"I'm _fine_, John."

"Then go to the hospital, I'll drive you."

She drew back her hand and began to protest when Blake cut her off making a chopping motion with his hands, he barked,

"You're as white as snow, look at your hands! No, c'mon, I'll drive you."

Lily blew out a breath, as if she could exhale her irritation out for him through her mouth. Looking down she could see what he meant about her hands; they were purple and swollen with little splodges of pink and blue all over them both. She thought it was just the cold; it was always cold this time of year. Finally, with a reluctant nod, Lily jerked her head for him to go back through the double doors and out to the squad car that was parked on the pavement.

Lily knew Blake well enough to know that she wouldn't drive in silence. He chattered to her about shelters, hostels, places where _people like her_ could go. She nodded vacantly and didn't comment on how naive he sounded. John had always been rather fecund when it came to the state of things for - as he put it, people like her. When they were finally at the hospital, Blake yanked on the handbrake and turned one of his dark eyes on her, nodding past her; out of the window the hospital was huge, bright and almost welcoming. It had been rebuilt after it had been levelled by Gotham's most famous of terrorists, the Joker. Lily shuddered looking at it,

There were always terrible urban legends about the Joker coming back. Lily was definitely not for that; when she had been a kid, eight years ago, she remembered his psycho face plastered all over the news. It was amazing what one man could do to a city, what one man could do to drive another man to become such a freak and lash out with such ferocity at the citizens of Gotham.

"I'll need to leave you here." Blake stipulated as a call came through on his radio.

Lily nodded enthusiastically and John looked at her harder. She squirmed under his scrutiny and flashed a rather weak smile before he spoke into the radio on his chest shortly,

"Y'know what, someone-else'll handle it tonight. Why don't I get you inside?"

"Uh, no, no, it's fine-"

"No, _no_. I insist."

Dr. Malrose was quick in his examination. Blake was stood to the side of the examination table that Lily sat perched on with his hands resting inside his thick Kevlar vest. Lily rolled her eyes as the doctor hissed and shook his head before remarking stiffly,

"Mild case of pneumonia, chilblains." He looked over at Lily and shook his head again,

"It's not looking good is it, Miss Bell."

He added condescendingly. Lily didn't look at him and was expecting to hear John's token chuckle at her full name, but when she looked round he was glaring at her. She looked away as the doctor went on,

"I can't vouch for you to go back out there, Miss Bell."

"But-"

"No," He ruled sternly, "If you do, in the best-case-scenario, you'll get frostbite and in the worst case: die."

She coughed again, almost falling off the table until John caught her; his grip warm.

"C'mon, Lil – it won't be for long..." John coerced gently, more pleading than coercing actually.

Lily looked at him then, his face was etched with concern.

"_Please_, Lil?"

"Alright..." She breathed hard. "Fine, I'll...I'll stay."

He flashed her a relief-filled smile and nodded at the doctor,

"Okay, doc?"

"Yes, that's fine. Thank you, officer. Come on, Miss Bell, we'll find you a bed."

Everything went by a in a whirl, before Lily knew anything; she was tucked up in a hospital bed in the ICU; hooked up to monitors, IVs and other things. Her breath became ragged as she began to panic; Blake was at her bedside and comforted her reassuringly,

"You'll be okay. The doctors here will help you get better, don't worry."

"You sure?" She squeaked,

"Yeah, of course." He smiled.

Lily found a weak smile for him and blinked when his radio went off. She watched him turn and listen to it;

"_Calling all units! All units respond! There's been a shooting in the Narrows_."

Blake turned away and listened intently before he peered back round at Lily,

"Listen, I gotta' go, but you stay here until the doctors say you can leave, got it?"

"Yeah." She piped a little too quickly and Blake came closer, his nose inches from Lily's,

"Got it?"

He pressed playfully but he was being serious and Lily smiled batting him away,

"Yes, don't worry."

"Okay, see you soon."

He said quickly and kissed her nose before running from the ward. Lily watched him leave and lay back, trying to relax. How anyone could actually lie in Gotham General after the Joker's attack baffled her; weren't they as worried as her about being blown up? She closed her eyes and tried to forget about the Joker. As she lay there she flexed her fingers and sucked in a breath; because they were warming up they were in agony, her chest was burning too. She sighed as she lay in her bed wondering how it had ever come to this and about how she'd be letting John down soon. Again.


	3. Once Below Never Brought Up

**III.**

**Once Below Never Brought Up**

Rubbing his hands together to ward off the crisp morning air, Blake carelessly kicked his squad car's door shut and pulled the collar of his jacket closer. It was freezing today. A frown dug in Blake's brow as he strode through the automatic doors that slid open and into Gotham General. He grimaced as he jerked his shoulder to let a nurse past him and the movement caused the wound from the night before to protest. He massaged the bruised flesh through his thick jacket, nodding with a smile to an elderly nurse who gave him an enquiring glance.

"ICU...ICU...Uh, nurse?"

"Yes?" Said the nurse crisply with an impatient little shuffle of her feet.

"Yeah, I'm looking for somebody-"

"Everybody is, kid. Get to the point."

Blake gaped dumb a moment before he shook himself and mumbled,

"Uh, I'm looking for my friend, I checked her in here last night-"

"All the night check-in's are handled along at the front desk. Check there."

Bustling off frantic in her impatience, she shouldered past Blake. He sighed and carried on along the hallway until he came upon the front desk. A big woman was sitting behind the monitor of a new top-of-the-range computer; she smiled charmingly at Blake's approach, leaning forward she piped,

"Good morning, officer, what can I do for you?"

She asked kindly, Blake smiled,

"Hi, I'm looking for a friend who I had checked into the ICU last night. Bell, her name's Lillian Bell. Can you tell me where she is, please?"

She nodded with a smile and ducked her head to squint at the computer screen while Blake placed both his hands on the desk and waited patiently for her as she searched.

"Bell? Bell? Lillian Bell...ah, here we are,"

Blake looked at her and stood upright as she shook her head and frowned, her mouth downturned,

"Lillian Bell checked herself out last night, sweetie."

"What?!" Blake snapped sharply.

The nurse peeped up at him and shook her head again and looked at the screen,

"Yep, that's what it says here."

"Why would you let her check herself out? She's really sick."

The nurse gave a little shrug as she sucked in a breath and said reasonably,

"We can't keep someone here against their will, honey. If they want to go then they want to go."

"Oh, goddamn it." He hissed quietly and slapped the desk crossly before turning and leaving.

He received more than a few glares as he shouldered through the press of A and E patients waiting to be treated, but he had to find Lil before it was too late. When he finally reached the exit doors, his mind was racing and troubled; Lily knew that if she went back out there she'd be doing herself more damage. He shook his head annoyed at her; why did she always do things like this? It was getting far too cold these days for prideful people to simply walk away from the help offered to them. Far too cold indeed.

Blake tried all the places Lil frequented, underpasses, alleyways, train stations, bus shelters, and the docks down Cape Carmine way; nothing. As he paced the stony promenade walk he put his hands behind his head and let out a worried breath. His eyes were squinting along the grey coast; night time was approaching and Blake knew he didn't have time to run around town looking for a homeless person. Finding them scattered around Gotham in general was easy enough, but not an individual one. The people of Gotham liked to look at them all as one singular entity; the needy.

"Lil..." Blake groaned through his teeth as his eyes scanned the whole area.

"Where the hell'd you get to?"

* * *

The Gotham sewers were nobody's first choice. So Lily didn't take the invitation down below and watched as some boys slipped down the manhole. Instead she stumbled through Old Town, being sure to keep out of sight while she wandered. Her hands were so swollen she couldn't even feel them, when she moved them it felt like they were simmering, bubbling beyond belief; she closed her eyes against this biting pain and wiped away a strand of her dark static hair and coughed furiously.

With a hobble she fell against the rough brick of an alleyway wall. She didn't even react when her brow connected with the painfully coarse brick, barely noticing the bloodied scratches on her head. She was certain her blood was frozen on her forehead, unable to run. Unable to go anywhere. She could hardly pull air into her infected lungs; she had always been lucky come winter, she never caught colds, but now it seemed she had the _mother_ of all colds.

She gasped and leaned back against the wall, sliding down to the ground she curled up and rested her head between the deep valley between her skinny knocking knees and tried to forget her pain and the cold that seemed to breathe around her, sapping the air from her own body; choking her into submission and into slumber. Her last thought before she felt her eyelids grow too heavy was of John's kind face; his gentle eyes as he said goodbye to her the night before. Lily had been guilt-ridden by that damn memory all night and all day. He couldn't help her and nice guys like Blake didn't need her problems, the way she was; he'd managed to overcome whatever obstacles had stood in his way in the past, Lily just never seemed to be able to.

Slumping to the side, Lily managed a little sob as her paper-thin body hit the frozen ground. She hoped she'd be frozen, beneath the ice and beneath the layers of shame and disgust in herself, that extra layer of ice may even have been warm in comparison.

The sound of footsteps made her crack open an eye. It was so cold the moisture on her very eyeball seemed to freeze and she blinked and pulled a face; before her were two feet. The soles of his boots were soiled with snow and dirt, a sturdy pair of legs if one were to look closely. Lily blinked up and hoped, despite herself, almost hoped John had come to save her; but she'd blown that. He'd done far too much for her already, it had been her choice to leave the hospital, it was the only thing in her life she felt as though she had some semblance of control over; everything else was just spinning out of her control, like a twister of cold air and frozen icicles, relentless and rupturing.

Her frozen face was white as paper, the glare from the streetlight blotted out any features of the figure standing above her. Lily felt her eyes flutter, lethargy taking over her again. She hazarded a tentative lick of her lips but her saliva froze and she groaned at the frost that now coated her lips and looked away from the figure who was still quietly staring. Pulling her coat closer, she curled in more tightly like a hedgehog to ward off any attackers, silently and resentfully ignoring the dark figure quietly breathing above her. Sighing, she felt a tear roll along the side of her nose and felt it freeze before it even dripped off. Closing her eyes she consigned herself to this man's intrigued stare and the biting cold as her fate for tonight.


	4. Chains Are Made

**IV.**

**Chains Are Made**

_Hands. Warm hands. Normal, peach-coloured hands. Not like mine. No, not like mine. My hands are stained with a million snowflakes, all pressed into my palms, so many and so cold it is as if I am holding a sizzling beacon, blinding-white and scorching to the touch. My palms itch and flame with the effort of carrying the cold. Don't look back, don't turn around and stare into the darkness of the alleyway, the inky, frozen nothingness, and don't think about the consequences of wishing for a brighter place to fall down. The pain that comes from wishing is born from people's desire to see a dynamic improvement and an instantaneous result. So what more could I wish for?_

Barely conscious. Dragged up from her belly, Lily's eyes flicked up to see a huge man in a sheepskin coat. It looked warm. With a shake of her head, Lily sucked in a breath and tried to focus on this giant who had her in a warm grip; under her matchstick legs, just at the joints his fingers cradled and on her back a big palm covering the small expanse, the warmth seeping through her coat-jacket.

Like a young fox snuggling at their mother's fluffy, warm bellies, Lily curled and writhed comfortably in these foreign arms and hoped they would drop her soon, so she could fall. She so yearned to let go. For someone to just let her go. Darkness came then, like a curtain being drawn, black took over.

"Where am I?"

Lily groaned generically as she opened her eyes and blinked up at a high ceiling. A _very_ high ceiling. Her voice was naught but a gritty rasp. She cleared her throat and began to cough, her body racked again in the throes of her sickness.

"**Below anything that can trample you**,"

"Huh?" She grunted and sat up, her coat-jacket askew as ever.

Her eyes fell on a man, a very large man. A leviathan actually. Lily swallowed a lump and felt her stomach drop. Her head felt light and she could feel her nose growing red as the big man got to his feet and turned to face her. Lily sighed, her eyes wide staring directly at his face; obscuring his nose and mouth was a metal mask. Rivets and knobs all encroached inwards like the mouth of some vicious creature. There was no hair on his head, shaved she guessed, so it didn't interfere with the mask he wore. Lily backed away fearfully as he strode over, languidly and smoothly, an impressive show of grace considering his vast size.

"**You were trodden, weren't you? What were you doing in that alleyway?**"

He asked, his voice a deep, metallic rumble that sounded both learned and brutal. His appearance greatly misguided the listener who heard that voice. Biting back a cough, Lily watched as he knelt beside what she was lying on – which appeared to be five or so mattresses all piled up on top of each other that barely came up to his waist while kneeling.

"What was I...doing in the alleyway?"

She repeated through cold lips. He didn't answer her, but merely looked at her with his dark eyes. A slit in one eyebrow which was cocked in waiting for her explanation. She gave him her impudent little shrug and replied dimly,

"Looking for a place to sleep...That's what I was doing."

"**Searching for a place to rest your head?**"

Lily bobbed her head as he spoke, the only visual evidence of him even using his voice was the bulging of veins in his neck and the jump of his throat. His eyes slid away and he got up glibly, ignoring her while she hauled herself off the mattresses and pulled her jacket on properly.

"Well," She began feebly, coughing a little, "Thanks, but I have to go..."

"**Do you?**" He countered quickly and idly, looking over at her.

Lily felt herself tense and backed away, her knees quaking with exhaustion. He didn't stop her retreat, neither did he infringe on her – probably because he could pick Lily up and shake her like a terrier shakes a rat if he really wanted to. She felt her butt connect with something – a table. Keeping her eyes locked to the man who was simply watching her as she made her retreat, he kept an eye on her fingers as they slid along the chest of the table until her swollen fingers felt a heavy object, feeling it Lily wrapped her sluggish fingers around the handle of what she believed was a hammer.

The man observed her as if he knew exactly what she would do, back up and grasp for the hammer.

"**Think about your choices.**"

He counselled with a carelessness that Lily had never seen in anyone else before. He had taken the liberty of picking her up out of the cold but he seemed completely at ease with breaking her neck now should she disobey that little command. Her fingers tightened around the handle and she scowled at the masked man,

"**Do you want to be considered?**"

That stopped her retreat a little and she lessened her grip on the hammer. He was looking directly at her now, his dark eyes the only thing that could draw anyone into that face. He waved his hand slowly and deliberately before he took a practiced step towards her, not too fast but Lily didn't like the rate at which he was closing the distance between them. Her hand tightened and he stopped,

"Considered for what?" She asked quietly, her eyes red-rimmed in this half-light.

"**For Gotham's liberation. You are such a one who has felt the heel of those many privileged,**"

He was in front of her now, still not too close and Lily peered up at him. His height as well as his bulk was imposing; the sheer brute strength of a bull but the cunning mind of a crow lurked behind the snarling, metallic chops of that mask. Lily found herself glaring up at him,

"Liberation? You're going to liberate Gotham? People have tried, look where that got 'em."

"**Got who?**"

Lily shrugged and averted her gaze before flicking her eyes back up,

"The Waynes, Harvey Dent...They're all dead and they tried to help Gotham."

His face didn't change, not one thing about it moved. Lily felt her eyes watering at holding back another cough but remained vigilant as the man seemed to weigh her up,

"**Yes, those who have died created the foundation for liberation,**"

He conceded with a small nod. Nonchalantly placing a hand on her shoulder, Lily swung the hammer up at his head with a yelp and gasped as he gripped the tool mid-swing. His arms were barely pulsating, Lily's attack was so weak and feeble, but the tendons in his wrist stuck out and he took Lily off her feet as she clutched the hammer uncompromisingly. He leaned in closer to her hanging frame and said darkly,

"**But the decadent mob of Gotham shall feel the wrath of the deprived masses below. I will unchain the dogs and allow them to gnaw at the rotted flesh of the elite and the stamped on will be the ones who stomp; their boots will come down profoundly on them until they too slump in cold dark places.**"

"Y-you're going to do this?"

Lily squeaked and let go of the hammer. Fluttering back down with barely a thump, the man watched her descent and held the hammer out between them. He stooped to be eye-level with her, the hammer between his mask and her face, Lily's dark eyes flashed as the hammer glinted wickedly amid them. His hand looked strong enough to leave dents in the handle,

"**I will do this, but I need **_**these**_**.**"

"'These'?" Lily whispered a frown quirking her brow.

"**Hammers."** He said, emphasising what he said by leaning closer,

"**Hammers to knock in the nails of the corrupted.**"

Lily gulped down and felt herself unable to contain her cough anymore. She pushed past the man and coughed into her sleeve, her back to him. He stood quietly while she spluttered. When finally it abated she stood upright and felt her back protest; she was so engrossed in her agony she didn't even sense the man come up behind her. She tensed again as she felt the brush of his coat at her fingertips and took a breath as he pinned her to his body with the hammer's handle pressed up against her exposed neck.

"**Think about your choices,**" That metallic voice said again and Lily's eyes slid to the side.

Slightly turning her head, she eyed the hammer the fist that wielded it; it was almost symbolic; the sight of his strong fist encasing the hammer as they hovered over her vulnerable collar bone. Her breath hitched as he said in a dangerous echoing tone,

"**You are a link in a chain now, I can't let you leave here alive. But I can give you a **_**purpose**_**.**"

She closed her eyes at that last word. Something in the way he said that to her sounded like she was making a deal with the devil; an unbreakable pact, held together by an equally as unbreakable chain. Welded by flame and left to set in the frostbitten alleyways, dangerous, evil, dark.

"Should I think about the consequences?" She uttered,

"**Let me think about them. What is your name?**"

"Lillian...Lily." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"**Tragic.**" Came his strange voice above her head.

"Why...?"

"**Demon of the night – Lily. Tragic for you; auspicious for our cause.**"

She felt her skin prickle and she opened her eyes again. Blinking she looked up, her chin bared in defiance even if he couldn't see it,

"What's _yours_ then?"

There was a pause and Lily felt him take a breath behind her before replying clearly through the barred and twisted confines of his mask,

"**Bane.**"

Well so then, they were both doomed with tragic names despite the intimacy, it was a cold and calculating parallel that made Lily feel like she was in an airless vent; totally confined, completely and utterly buried under the weight of something that wasn't even there.


	5. Your Wild Form

**V.**

**Your Wild Form**

Lily didn't think after that hellish night, were she pledged her servitude to Bane in return for her life it could get any worse. Her coughs began to make her whole body tremble and violently convulse, her back ached constantly and the shakes that rattled her hands and knees made her practically useless when it came to working. She was ignored mostly, by the mercenaries, Bane's militia. They all eyed her like she was dirt, even in this climate; Lily's social standing wasn't very good. With a sullen face, she sat in the tunnels that ran like a spider's web underneath Gotham and peered up at the rounded upper half of her circular surroundings, she blinked as a frozen droplet fell into one of her shrouded, vacuous eyes.

No one came up this tunnel, she knew; she'd watched the workers for a couple of days before she sneaked in and made herself a little cocoon away from the other worker ants. She let out a breath that was like dry ice, she watched it curl and dissolve away; her breath was very ragged, her little husk of a frame fragile. Lily thought that her chest must have been caving in at this rate; she drew in another uneven breath and let her head fall back. She'd probably die in here and it'd serve her right. John was most probably mad at her – he always was.

She would rather die down here away from him, he was her only tie to reality anyway, and if neither of them were there to share that connection was she still in reality? If he wasn't there to consider her, to worry about her, was she even real? What if she forgot him? She thought that she'd rather forget him and lie beneath Gotham for all eternity with no one remembering her – Lily was too proud to be remembered for being a vagrant, kicked to the gutter; swamped beneath the corporate turbines, swallowed, engulfed and eventually completely submerged and strangled of all wealth; spiritual, physical...There was none to be had in Gotham City for Lillian Bell.

She was spent, slumped in a damp tunnel, her legs barely bending to fit comfortably in this rounded environment. It seemed that she spent most of her days finding a place to lie down and fall asleep. In her dreams she always saw the sun, lovely surroundings, and a paradise of warm air, dry and balmy. Her hands were always golden, not once when she slept had she dreamt of the strange water-marked hands she had right now. Lifting one up, she gazed at it ponderously; her fingers were swollen now to the point where if Lily squinted enough she thought they looked like spoiled sausages. With a heavy sigh, she looked away. Her hand dropped to the wet floor limply.

In this darkness with the harsh light of the white lights that bore down on the tunnel floor, a long white finger pointing at Lily, obscured by only her own shadow. Had her bones finally found a place to lie down and begin to become entombed under the city? Her home and her torment? Most likely. She didn't fully understand what Bane had meant about 'liberating' Gotham, but she'd seen others try;

Everyone who lived in Gotham had seen the feat try to be done. It was almost as if the sombre city's citizens wanted to see who could prevail and make Gotham a shining metropolis of wonderment. Gotham was no Eden, nor was it a place for people with thin skulls.

Lily's attention was drawn for a moment, a serene and placating moment; a rush of hot air whooshed by her, warming her cold bones, ruffling her now-listless hair into a carnival that flicked behind her and making her sit up like a hound on point. Eyes bright, she gazed down the tunnel and saw an amazing inferno blast by the tunnel's opening. With a gasp and a groan she got up slowly and stared down the barren tunnel and her lips parted; a bang and a blast? She had been told to go back to Barsad and inform him of anything suspicious should she run across anything. An explosion, that was suspicious, wasn't it? She deemed it so and began to wander down the tunnel's length, the air was still wonderfully dry, the blast burning up the damp air and making it almost breathable.

Her eyes felt wide, wider than they had ever felt in weeks. Her sight felt sharp, something was giving her the energy to continue down this perilously curved metal path. She slipped with a small grunt but carried on nonetheless, the curiosity nipping at her brain. Peering out of the perfectly round mouth at the end of the line, Lily peeked round and then back again; she could smell burning. With a frown she emerged from the tunnel like the rat she was and gingerly stepped down the rest of the pipe until she could hear running water. She could hear noises, grunts and exclamations; Lily was invested now; running downwards, Lily ran to the other opening, the one the flames must have come from. Her chest tightened, she was overtaxing herself; she leaned heavily on the walls, the slime and dampness making her curl her nose. Looking at her strange hands, she saw the grime and frowned down on them vacantly for a moment,

"Hey!"

Lily's head snapped up. Standing before her were two men, she didn't recognise them. In-between them however, Lily recognised him. Commissioner Gordon was hanging as limp as her hands between the two men. One of them, he had a hat on, spat,

"Hey, slack-jaw, get over here and help us!"

"Uh..." Lily started backing away,

"D'you want us to go to Bane?" The other one threatened as the Commissioner groaned absently.

"I don't think-" Lilly began with a shake of her head.

She was cut off as the one in the hat smacked her over the mouth with a lead pipe. Falling back, Lily could taste blood in her mouth, glaring up she resentfully watched as the other laughed and the one in the hat grabbed the Commissioner's lifeless arm. Lily wished the Commissioner would just wake up and smack his firearm off that brute's head, but she couldn't ignore the ring in her ears any longer and looked on as the two men left her to take back their prize to Bane.

"**Well, now. Here's your chance to escape, it'd be so easy, too.**"

Lily froze. She didn't look up. She knew that voice, but she hadn't heard it for weeks, could he really be just to her right standing in the mouth of one of the many tunnels?

"D'you mean I can _leave_?"

"**Only if you truly think about what you'll be forfeiting.**"

She wouldn't look. It wasn't like her to not be curious, she had just earned a smack across the mouth for it in actuality, but she wouldn't look round at him in case he was there.

"**Will you choose to go back, I wonder.**"

"Will you kill me?" She uttered in the black.

"**When the time comes.**" There came a decisive reply.

"What do you want from me?"

Lily felt her brow furrow in the darkness. Her chin still pressed against the ground. She still wouldn't look round; if he was there she didn't want to see him. With his mask covering his face, menacing the very gloom from the corners, frightening the already terrifying. She could feel Bane's primal poise and felt her skin prickle,

"**What do **_**I**_** want from **_**you**_**?**"

He scoffed somewhere off to her side. Lily's hair stood on end as he went on, his sharp voice reverberating off the echoing chambers of the sewers,

"**Nothing. You've given me all you have. It is **_**I**_** who will give **_**you**_** everything.**"

He was there. He had to be. Lily was homeless and a little depressed, not mad. She surely hadn't run mad. Slowly, very slowly, she turned her head and felt blood trickle down her chin; she felt pain then, more than she ever had; her back and her mouth, her hands all of it converged in that one movement to see if he was standing by the tunnel's opening.

She thought she caught a glimpse. A brief flicker, an apparition, a phantom? Something in the gloom perhaps? Something baleful and eerie moving around her like a wild shadow, circling her like she were defenceless prey, ready to be scooped up in the jaws of something dangerous and violent.

Alone, she was completely alone. She blinked to see if he'd be there that time but he simply wasn't. Her brow knotted and she got up strenuously and with great effort; he had been there. She had _heard _him. Lily cast her eyes around the tunnel; she could still vaguely hear the two men dragging Commissioner Gordon off further and further into the bowels of the sewers. With a sigh, she tugged on her jacket and limped after them, trying to forget her small brush with madness.


	6. Fragile Spines

(Warning: it's a talky one.)

* * *

**VI.**

**Fragile Spines**

_I should go quietly, broken and silent; left in the cold, my torn clothes cling so to my jutting body. My limbs ache and whine in protest, sores on my flesh burn like volcanoes, like molten lava; torturous. We are spoiled for choice in the vast array of ways in which we can rot and crumble. Fade away like so many mysteries; fade into the obsidian, unless maybe something great discerns you and plucks you from your pain. _

The vast chamber was silent. Lily's chest heaved; she had managed to catch up to the workers who were taking the Commissioner to Bane. Presenting the older man to an unseeing Bane like two cats would present a mouse to their owner. Looking for a pat on the head and enjoying their power. Lily watched carefully, her eyes flicking from one party to the other; Bane was sitting; hunched over, his gigantean muscled back, the medical implement that was embedded down his ferocious looking spine was exposed to them, Lily thought maybe even vulnerably so, but it didn't seem to cause him any pain to lithely stand to his feet and turn an inquisitive eye on his men.

"**Why are you here?**"

One of the men booted Commissioner Gordon sharply in the ribs,

"Answer him!"

He had his lead pipe in his hand, grasping it and threatening to smack it across the Commissioner's face. Lily could attest to its potency in dealing out pain and licked her bust lip, not savouring the sour taste of blood on her tongue. She forgot her pain as Bane slowly and lazily seemed to step over to them, those three who had brought him such a prize; Commissioner James Gordon. Lily felt no pride seeing Bane's eyes blazing and the tenseness that was coursing through his arms and great hulking chest. She gulped and waited for his ruling;

Peering down, he raised an eyebrow,

"**I was asking **_**you**_**.**" The man corrected his minion in the hat, "**Why are you here?**"

He asked again. Lily took a step back, that one little movement and she felt Bane's calculating eyes on her, rest there for no less than a second before twitching back to his quivering worker,

"It's...we brought you...Commissioner Gordon..." He bleated weakly.

"**And you brought him down here?**"

He asked in that same abrupt way that made Lily break out in hives. The other one, the more silent one seemed to be sweating more than the one with the hat, Lily heard this quibble,

"We didn't know what to do with him. We-"

Lily visibly shirked when Bane without inflection gripped his throat and squeezed it silently choking him down until he fell to his knees and finally to the ground with a splutter. Lily and the remaining thug remained before the alter of Bane's cool rage.

"**You panicked,**" The big man explained with a nod.

The thug nodded his head, he was shaking; Lily could see his lead pipe tremble as Bane went on,

"**And your weakness has cost three lives.**"

Lily didn't even shuffle, embedded in her hood, her hands stuffed in her pockets she was wringing them inside, grinding her teeth at the intensity of this scene Bane was breaking so calmly and so casually, like when a disappointed father finds out his boy's been flinging mud at windows and punishes him before his delinquent friends, a lesson in humility.

Bane turned, bending down with that colossal grace and gently brushed aside the Commissioner's suit jacket; plucking from Gordon's breast pocket, a lot of letters by the looks of it. Lily looked on as he turned his shoulder on the thug and her to quickly scan the letters. His face was unreadable, but she thought she saw one of his dark eyebrows quirk up,

"**Search him.**" He ordered without looking up from the small bundle of letters.

Lily and the thug exchanged a quick and doleful look, she was about to move forward when she felt a meaty hand slam into her chest. She grunted and stumbled back as the thug scowled at her. He turned back to the Commissioner but stopped dead when he beheld Bane rolling up the letters eyeing them both coldly and glassily. Lily didn't hear him while she was doubled over coughing hard, Bane's metallic growl,

"**Then I will kill you.**"

The thug swallowed a lump and was about to kneel down before Bane and search Gordon like he had been told to when the Commissioner, quick as a hare, rolled himself off of the ledge he was lying quite close to. Lily just barely managed to catch sight of the Police Commissioner as he was engulfed by the white waters that ran quickly down to the outflows. She was on her knees grasping her ears as gunshots rang out right beside her; she stole a glimpse of Bane who was regarding her quietly.

"He's dead." The thug stipulated with certainty to Bane, he was gripping his lead pipe as though it was his only lifeline.

Turning his eyes from her, Bane looked at the worker and shrugged indifferently,

"**So show me his body.**"

His tone was so mild, Lily felt herself gaping; he spoke to the thug as though he were a maths tutor who was telling the pupil to show his working, accepting nothing less than the utmost absolute and wanting proof of how one could ever come to a certain conclusion.

The thug was panicking now, so much so that even Lily felt a little stirring of pity for him; even from her hallowed eyes she could see that he was petrified of Bane's wrath, and she did not blame him. Not for one moment did she blame him for the fear he seemed to possess for Bane, not when he was being so informal and blasé; almost like he _wouldn't_ kill him. Holding out a hand, Bane waited for his second-in-command, Barsad, to hand him something that she couldn't quite make out from her vantage point on the ground. She watched quietly and unobtrusively as the thing Bane had just been given exchanged hands quickly and smoothly and was now in the quaking hand of the thug who had whacked her with the pipe.

"**Follow him.**"

Bane commanded simply, allowing the man a furrowed brow at his orders before he put a bullet in his chest from a chamber of a gun that Lily didn't even see the huge man brandish. She jumped as the shot boomed and the man fell back into the foamy waves, just like his predecessor before him.

The girl's eyes slid up as Bane ignored her and handed the gun back to his second-in-command. Returning his attention to the letters, he walked back to where he had been sitting before; the scene over, five men dead and she left alone among the bustle as the workers pretended not to witness Bane's icy act of punishment. Slightly queasy, Lily got up and leaned against the railing until her swollen knuckles turned white. Moving forwards, she blinked over at Bane's turned back and watched him sit back down, hunched again, his back bare to her and his strange spinal graft.

"Bane?" She said quietly,

She saw his shoulders tense only slightly. Barely a twitch of a movement, but she had his attention. Shuffling forward, she smothered a cough before she could speak again,

"**You're still here?**"

Lily scowled and waved his comment away,

"Uh, y-yes, but, listen, Bane-"

"**You are not to go in the tunnels close to the surface.**"

He commanded his back still to her. Lily peeped down and frowned,

"But-"

"**But?**" He counteracted.

Lily wondered if he thought she would challenge him after just witnessing his display a moment ago. She looked away, resenting the confinement and the craziness of this whole thing.

"**Think.**" He said slowly, "**Simply think, that is all I want from you.**"

Lily's brow puckered and she found herself gingerly circling round him, she could see the outline of the maw of his mask from here; she sighed as her eyes roamed all down his back and ruined spine. What was he exactly? She started when he got up suddenly and without warning.

"**Go up there, you will be trampled. Go up only when I make it safe."**

He turned and peered at her, making her back away; her skin white, the bags under her eyes prominent and even then she felt her decline as she coughed.

"**You are not useless.**" He remarked suddenly when Lily's coughing abated.

"**A deal bartered with life is not always a bad thing. You still have yours,**"

Lily felt dwarfed as he took one step closer, the letters he salvaged from the Commissioner still in his huge grasp.

"**You will see what you bought with it soon.**"

"And...What is that?" She squeaked as he looked down, his expression completely impenetrable.

Bane's eyes were fierce as he replied almost reverently, his tone losing its frosty edge,

"**A place in the sunshine.**"


	7. To Want A Thing

**VII.**

**To Want a Thing**

John was wringing his hands as he sat at the Commissioner's bedside. Jim Gordon was scanning a bunch of papers with Foley on his other side – he looked anxious.

"You mean to tell me...You abandoned the chase to catch the thieves at the stock exchange to try and catch the Batman?"

He uttered with his gentle voice. Foley pulled at his collar and averted his eyes. The Commissioner's former partner looked like a foolish child beside the dignified – although hospitalised – Commissioner Gordon. Jim waited for Foley to respond without looking up,

"Jim...We had no choice."

Foley explained quietly. John watched carefully as Foley sweated,

"He killed Harvey Dent-"

"_And_ it would have looked good on your résumé, eh? Catching the Bat would have been your crown jewel,"

The Commissioner commented nonchalantly as he peered up and eyed Foley with a hard glare,

"Hell, the Mayor would probably have given you my job."

John saw Foley turn his head away and turn his eyes away from his old friend. Jim was unabashed by Foley's embarrassment and turned to John,

"Tell me, son. Did you let Foley know of what I told you when you fished me out of the outflows?"

Foley's eyes darted over to John and flashed. John took a breath; he _did_ tell Foley and his higher uppers about what the Commissioner had seen when he took to the sewers; an army. An underground army that was being primed for something big dwelt below Gotham's very sidewalks and not one of the pomps high up in the food chain wanted to know about it.

John bobbed his head, unable to lie to the Commissioner. Foley only glared at him harder as Jim Gordon looked over at him and shook his head slowly, disappointment rung in his voice,

"So you haven't searched the sewers like I would have ordered?"

Foley said nothing. The Commissioner sighed and folded the papers that were in his lap and placed them over on his side cabinet and said in an exasperated voice;

"Then you'd best get on that, Foley. Mark my words there's something brewing beneath our feet and if we don't crush whatever's going to spew out of those sewers; we'd better pray the Batman's around when Bane surfaces leading the charge."

* * *

The confine of Lily's warm prison was too much for her today. Kicking her legs free of a thin blanket, she thrashed around on her bedding; sweat trickling down her back, her legs all the way down her neck. She closed her eyes and revelled in this sweltering ecstasy. The padding under her slight back was soaked with her sweat; the heat of her body radiating down through the thick mattress. Her hair was slicked back, she had no care for it and let it tumble down the side like a dark waterfall of whisky spilled in drunken slumber, intoxicated as she was with the sheer warmth of herself in that moment. Smothering, it almost choked her; literally she was unable to breathe and a sharp pang of pain exploded in her chest. Lily's eyes snapped open,

Wave upon wave of pain washed over her torso. It was so much so that she thought that it was the end for her, she couldn't pull air into her deprived lungs; her fingers were blue, her knees locked up; she was lying on her side coughing, whooping and hacking as she tried to contain her body's convulses. It was difficult; she could hear people's growing annoyance with her noise. The clicking of tongues made her get up from her wonderful sleep and throw herself out into the vast chamber that everyone spent most of their time in.

Spluttering into her dirty jacket's sleeve, Lily leaned on the railing overlooking the outflow that Jim Gordon had used to give Bane the slip. Her mind began to wander, hazily and dreamily; the titanic complex was silent and muted, the only sound being the subway system rattling and rumbling somewhere far off, in another dark corner of Gotham and the constant rushing water. Lily thought of escaping the sewers and slipping down that watery shoot and taking her chances; Bane knew she thought this, Lily reckoned. He'd watch her during the day, he'd watch her as she helped out, but he'd never let her see him watching her. It was understandable; she didn't let him see her scoping him out either. Although, she was certain that he knew she peered at him curiously.

He'd been absent from their underground movement for the last few days however, Lily had missed the massive man straight away. His presence within his militia of mercenaries was both a comfort to them and an ominous reminder; they worked under a silent and invisible lash, and if they did not come up with results, they knew they would be broken in two, coldly and with absolutely no remorse. Bane was no such a man to be trifled with, Lily knew.

Her eyes hooded she leaned ever more further over the railing and wondered what it would be like to be on a boat; Lily had never been on one and thought it must have been wonderful; free, no one could get to you out at sea; alone in the blue. She sighed and rested her head on her hands and closed her drooping eyelids and felt herself begin to nod off to sleep She didn't know how much time had gone by before her eyes cracked open. She was lying back on the firm, chilly ground looking up at that high ceiling she had come to recognise as her new sky, the rivets and pillars unattractive clouds in a black atmosphere.

"**First frozen alleyways, and now railings overlooking fast-flowing water.**"

Lily rolled over and stared at Bane. He was facing her, sitting on an ammunition box, his eyes intent on her and his mask foreboding in the foreground of her vision, in his hands hung a simple plastic carrier bag – what its contents were, Lily knew not.

"**I asked you to think, which was obscure.**" He said ponderously, almost to himself.

Lily frowned,

"**I meant take consideration for your actions, not think up new ways to kill yourself.**"

"What? No, I wasn't..." Lily stuttered for words, getting to her feet stiffly.

Bane watched her get up silently, broodingly. Lily shifted her weight; she hadn't meant to fall asleep at the railing, nor had she intended for anyone to find her about to plummet into the water completely dumb and unawares. Lily's hazel eyes slid away from Bane and she pulled her jacket over her shoulder. Bane regarded her as she did this, watched carefully as she coughed again; turning away from him. He observed as she sobered and came closer, tentatively like a squirrel;

"**I took the liberty,**" He commented, throwing the bag at her.

Stiff fingers meant Lily couldn't catch it. It was a bad moment for them both then, she didn't think Bane had meant for it to fall ungracefully to her feet. He shifted but made no move to retrieve the bag; Lily was likewise, she eyed the bag at her ankles and cocked an eyebrow grandly,

"W-what's this?"

The built man shrugged curtly, his eyes never leaving her;

"**You're** **unwell. That should help quell the fire in your chest. The smart in your bones.**"

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows, "Thank you...I mean, thanks."

Still she didn't move to pick up the bag. One of Bane's hands hung languidly down in-between his muscled legs; Lily merely started at him, waiting for that weird mechanical rasp. She bit back a gasp as he got to his feet, his shoulders squared. He impinged upon her, looking down in his dismissive sort of way; Lily didn't back away, she stood her ground; cold in her thin-soled shoes, a shivering tiny specimen of someone, barely even a person, but Bane looked at her now as if she might be more. As if she might find her calling before Gotham's rapture.

The other mercenaries were beginning to come out of their little tents; rolling up their bedding and strapping their guns to their backs. Upon realising Bane staring down at the small girl, tiny in comparison to the Olympic mass that was Bane and his authority, they watched rapt as the mammoth sized up the mouse. She blinked as he came right up in front of her; the last time she remembered them being as close was the night he dragged her from the coldness of the alleyway and opened to her; a new portal of freezing.

Two people eyeing each other, one cold on the outside but warm; dreams of warmth and intimacy radiated from the small while on the other hand; warm on the outside, cold as ice on the inside, both pained both perceived with some level of disgust by the people around them.

Bane, for his brutality; the fact that brutality came so _easily_ to him, his ability to break, to destroy. Lillian, because she was frail, soft and delicate all too much a woman to be living rough and sleeping in dank corners under doorposts, blanketed by the snow and shunned by the norms who all saw her as a failure, but that was up above; this was down below, where more wilder and darker things roamed than those conventional fools could ever imagine and looking upon Bane in all his brutish glory, towering far above her, she felt that maybe she could bring him down, like a lion brings down an elephant and once him; who else might she bring down in her ambition? _What_ else could she bring down?

That's when she realised then the very depths of her desire to break all to her own will. Her eyes still locked with Bane's she thought what she might have to do to earn his respect. Then, peeking down between them, just like the hammer, the bag was completely domestic, totally ordinary; full of ordinary things. She bent her protesting knees and fetched the bag from the ground at both their feet and glanced up at him, her eyes dark and confident.

"**Well done.**"

Was all Bane said before retreating into the darkness of his own quarters. Lily watched him leave, his swagger was not exaggerated; the alpha does not need to preen, it is always known who rules the roost and even though she seemed to have passed his little test, she was still nothing compared to him by way of sheer power. Lillian felt a deep and resounding feeling of jealousy and discovered to her horror that she hated him for that power he possessed.


	8. My Broken Chest

**VIII.**

**My Broken Chest**

Relief filled Lily's throat and chest as she swallowed down some water that was in the bag which Bane had given her. Screwing the cap back on, she fished around the bag some more and found half a dozen boxes of Ibuprofen and paracetamol. She frowned then; the doctors at Gotham General had prohibited her from taking cough medicine, insisting that she cough so she could clear all the phlegm from her throat. They'd put her on an IV for fluids; in Bane's bag was three big bottles of water and also some heat pads – she assumed, for the 'smart' in her bones. She wondered then if Bane had any medical experience...It didn't surprise her; he seemed like a pretty learned guy in all honesty.

Choking down the stronger of the two painkillers, Lily popped three Ibuprofen and sat back, leaning against the gigantean walls that stretched up for miles and watched the workers, mercenaries and general vagrants mill around the massive chamber quite idly ignoring them, closing her waxy eyelids she pushed her lips against the tall collar of her jacket, snuggled up and fell asleep there.

She was awoken a few hours later from a dreamless sleep by Barsad's kicking her foot. With a scowl she looked up at the tanned man and raised an eyebrow,

"Up." He commanded shortly.

Lily sighed and ungracefully heaved herself half up and with a grimace fell back against the wall. Her bones were sore, protesting to their movements, her joints grinding like rusty cogs. With a tut, Barsad clasped her hand and hefted her up and grabbed her little bag.

"What's going on?" She managed after a yawn.

Barsad threw a quick glance at her and seemed to be eyeing her as if he would work out her value. Appraising her as though she were some appliance or tool which had been broken and he would not bother fixing. With a terse shrug, he answered her dryly,

"Bane says you need warmth. I'm taking you somewhere warm to rest up."

"Really?" She piped with a frown, "That's very...generous of him."

Barsad inclined his head and scoffed incredulously,

"Yeah, I thought so. You're worse than useless down here."

Lily ignored his rudeness and allowed him to lead her further down into the sewers. It felt like they had been traversing deeper and deeper into the depths of the sewers for hours when Barsad finally halted abruptly. So abruptly, Lily felt her nose bang into his shoulder softly. Blinking furiously, she peeped round his shoulder and beheld a poky little room which was filled with nothing but a bed, a heater, a table with a chair on top of it. Next to the chair were some books, Lily cocked an eyebrow.

"What is this?" She mumbled stepping inside.

"You're to make your home down here for the time being, until it's time to go outside."

Lily turned, her expression confused.

"A home? How long am I to be down here? Why's Bane keeping me here?"

Still holding her bag, Barsad shrugged and shook his head. He placed the bag on the table and lifted the chair down off the table and sat on it. Lily followed his lead and sank down on the bed; enjoying the warmth of the heater before she felt a cough tickle her throat. Barsad let her cough and when she looked at him he was holding out a bottle of water to her. After a sip of water, she motioned for him to pass her some painkillers and when he offered her a paracetamol, she shook her head curtly and nodded for the Ibuprofen.

After she had swallowed the pink tablets, she sighed and sat back on the bed, her feet dangled about two inches from the ground. Barsad leaned his elbows on his knees and shook his head again at her;

"Honestly," He started with a flick of his dark eyes over her,

"I've been Bane's man for a number of years. His reasoning behind things is always shrouded in mystery. Why he saved you and brought you here, I don't know. Like I said, you can't work. I doubt you can fire a gun..."

"You've known him long, then?" Lily asked curiously.

Barsad nodded, leaning back in his seat,

"He's been my General now for three years. We staged a coup in West Africa not too long ago; Bane's strategies never fault. They are always reinforced and have yet to be broken."

He watched her and heard her breath rattle a little as she inhaled and nodded for her to drink. She did, quickly like a child enthralled by a fairytale, so she could return her keen eyes to him and hear some more.

"Although, as to his rationale and why he does things; why he is the way he is – I wouldn't know."

"The mask-" Lily pressed before Barsad cut her off,

"Is _his_ business." He stipulated, getting up from his seat. "And you shouldn't ask him about it, either."

"Not if you value that skinny neck."

He added darkly and Lily watched him as he strode over to the door and linger there a moment.

"You should consider yourself very lucky to be spared the flames of Gotham's reckoning. You're shielded down here with your brothers and sisters of the gutters."

Lily's brow twitched as Barsad said menacingly, nearly prophetically, which made her skin crawl.

"Soon, the people of Gotham will have their revenge. Bane will give you all what you want, although not what most think you _deserve_."

"You don't agree with Bane's liberation then?" Lily asked and he laughed,

"I agree with everything the General does. But weakness is not something I agree with; you people should have pulled yourselves free of the poverty you all now live in. Have you never wondered why you live your...'life' the way that you do?"

"Every day," Lily growled,

"And it isn't so easy to pull yourself free when cops block your actions at every turn. Lumping you in with the serious criminals when all you did was steal to stay alive and everyone's telling you that you're living the way you do because you're simply a failure who never tried. It isn't that black and white, not everyone's downfall story is the same, just ask anybody up there."

She spat at him, her tone was indignant towards him. Her anger only heating as he smiled lazily and said smoothly,

"Oh, we did. And it always came up trumps; the police and the elite. If you weren't one of so many – I'd be interested in your story. As it happens, I have work to do."

At that, Lily's brow was quirked. Slowly getting to her feet, Barsad watched as she did with one eyebrow raised grandly; wondering what she was doing. With a tentative step, Lily's pale drawn face was shadowed in the dim light, her eyes looked sad Barsad thought as she whispered,

"Do I have to stay down here by myself?"

Barsad shrugged, jerking his head, he said grandly,

"It's more than what anyone else's got. What's your problem?"

"I..." Lily's small voice trailed off and she sat back down defeated,

"I just don't want to be buried down here all alone,"

She coughed, her grey face looked gaunt and Barsad exhaled loudly, looking away from her; he fiddled with the door handle before peering back at her;

"I'll come down again in a while to make sure you're alright." He promised grudgingly.

Lily glanced up at the mercenary and he averted his eyes, unwilling to look at her,

"I have it figured Bane'll want to know you're not dead...Yet."

He added with a bob of his head and left Lily alone in the dingy room. She wondered what she'd managed to find herself caught up in since she'd been salvaged from the cold alleyways of Gotham and brought below to dwell with her _brothers and sisters of the gutters_ as Barsad put it.

Her heart raced as she thought of John and hoped he wasn't worrying too much about her. He would be. She knew him well enough to know that he'd be climbing the walls looking for her. She really wished he wouldn't.

The last thing she wanted was for him to come down here and cross paths with Bane and get the same treatment as Gordon. The more she thought about John, the more she began to miss the surface. She didn't miss the starvation, the hardness that was Gotham, but she was missing fresh air. She hoped Bane would deliver his promise soon and allow her to go outside when it was 'safe'. Lily scoffed at that choice of word; the last adjective she'd use to describe Bane was 'safe'. After a moment Lily felt her lips tremble as a sob burst out of her and she leaned her head against her knees and wept bitterly in the semi darkness.

Oh, how lucky she was; copped up, down below, just as she'd always wanted. She'd found it; Bane had given her what she coveted; a hole in the earth, far below anything that could interfere, a place where she could be forgotten. A place for her bones to turn to dust. A place for her to die in. Lily felt sick as she cried into her knees; more from her own foolishness to so wish for a quiet and unobtrusive death, not realising how much she may have had to live for.


	9. Keep Me Out

**IX.**

**Keep Me Out**

_Do we break when our bodies breaks?_

_Do we give up? Well, yes. That is the short answer; the long one is multi-factored and much too numerous to list, but to burn our own kingdoms would make us very foolish kings indeed. However, we do. As humans we are incapable of acceptance, we are unable to help and to receive help; after all; who truly deserves it? Not I. Not me who threw my own self down, one last defiant leap that left me plunged into the midst of snow, carnage, disgrace, shame and poverty. Gasping for breath and yet unable to even clutch the others around me, to shove them down and snatch at their own air, my mind is troubled by the vast emptiness in my lungs. I am too weak to steal anymore; but I am not too weak to hope. I only hope that I can cling to the bluffs before I sink deeper; deeper into the black. I will one day emerge, brighter and more wonderful than any of those I stepped over to reach my greatness._

Airless, Lily found the little room. Two weeks she had been embedded under the concrete on the orders of Bane. She sat furiously, her strength building with each ounce of hatred she poured into her own mind as she thought of him. His stupid mask. His silly voice and self-righteous nature. Slowly her hands began to shrink; tightened by the fists she balled. Her breath became more fluid; smoothed with the heat of her breaths as she exhaled in a powerful puff at her incarceration beneath the city.

Her hands still had that odd blue twinge to them; her skin was still grey, dull like the skin of a corpse. Lily felt stronger though. Hardened by this exile, she crushed it down and felt it cool, freezing her insides. Had she become some sort of granite? No, but she could feel her indifference to her own torture diminish with each new boring day she spent in her clammy little room. Lily was beginning to feel..._Alive_ again.

"You seem troubled today, souris."

Barsad noted one day while he wasted an afternoon in her room.

Lily ignored him, she was sitting at her little desk flicking through one of the books which had been left in her room, presumably for her to read; ha, what relief from boredom they brought her – Lily could barely read. She pretended though, made a show for Barsad; she'd make sure it seemed to him that she was at a different place in the book every time he graced her with a chilly visit.

"I'm fine," Lily lied and shirked as she recognised that echoed fib she always used.

She looked away from the book. Barsad was sitting on her bed, reclined back on his elbow. He had taken to coming down every few days; Lily thought he just came down to slack off in all honesty. Turning, she sniffed slightly; her little nose twitching like a rabbit's.

"What does 'souris' mean?"

Lily asked with a frown. Barsad shrugged in his rude way and jerked his head. He was rolling a cigarette, his callous fingers rolling the tobacco and skin easily. Lily watched him a moment and flexed her cold fingers, forgetting Barsad for a moment before he explained;

"It's French for 'mouse.'

He licked the paper and rolled the cigarette until it was now a short white tube and popped it in his chops. Lily scowled at him;

"Mouse, really? Isn't that a little...obvious?"

"What would you rather? Because 'boche' comes to mind too."

Lily raised an eyebrow and cocked her head curiously as Barsad lit his freshly-rolled cigarette and eyed her through the smog of smoke.

"And what does _that_ mean?" She demanded as he chuckled,

"Stubborn. Did you really think I believed you could even read?"

Lily flushed and looked away. Defeated by her own shame again and sighed.

"No," She admitted, her breath heavy. "Have you been all around the world?"

She asked quietly and Barsad nodded his head nonchalant,

"Been here, been there; every where's the same after a while. The sun's always hot, the snow's always cold; the people are always fighting and dying...Places are all the same."

With a sigh, Lily looked away as Barsad abandoned the conversation. She watched him get up smoothly from the bed and blow out a plume of smoke as he made his way over to the door.

"So, d'you need anything else?" He asked shortly.

Lily shook her head mutely. Barsad ducked his head and went from the room without another word. She started and got to her feet; her stick-thin legs a little stronger; she bolted for the door after Barsad,

"Hey!" She hollered as she tore open the door.

Barsad peered back, his expression looked confused and slightly annoyed.

"What is it?" He demanded and Lily shuffled out of the room,

"When can I go outside?" She inquired.

Barsad raised an eyebrow and provided,

"When Bane allows it, now get back in -"

"He can't keep me here like this. I want to go back up-"

She was cut off by Barsad's crack of laughter; smoke billowed from his mouth as he chuckled. Lily's scowl was deep while she waited for him to sober.

"He _can_ keep you here. That's the point. You'll stay put until he tells me to do otherwise with you."

Lily frowned,

"Has he been telling you to come down here?"

"Of course. Do you think I'd come down here to share your company unless I was _ordered_ to?"

"Bit rude..." Lily mumbled, "But no...No, I don't think you would." She conceded.

"Right then, back in your room." Barsad ordered stoutly before turning on his heel and leaving.

Lily watched him go, longing to follow him just to stick it to Bane but she thought it safer to simply return to her room. The small room was beginning to press on Lily's mind; she thought she was going stir crazy in here. She didn't even have any idea of time, the only noises she heard was the mercenaries all rummaging about upstairs and the grind of the underground train sometimes. Lily thought of the sky; she missed it.

She missed so much about the outside that she berated herself for forgoing it for the sewers. She resented Bane for plucking her from the streets when before she would have probably worshipped him for it. Lily clenched her blue fists and promised herself that if she ever saw the sun again; she'd tell that bastard exactly what she thought of him and his liberation.

_If_ she ever saw the sun again...

* * *

_Are my chapters too long or too short? I can never tell...Let me know, please? It'd be a big big help! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And thank you to everyone who's reviewed, faved and followed; it's wonderful that you guys are enjoying the fic so far and I hope you continue to read._

_(^^)_


	10. Breath of Spring

**X.**

**Breath of Spring**

The sound of the heater softly spewing out heat was the only sound that filled the room. Lily lay back on her single bed quietly and comfortably, wrapped up in a thin blanket and her black coat-jacket. Sleep had finally found her after Barsad had left her alone; her hands pressed in-between her knees, keeping her cold fingers warmed, she let out a deep breath and felt some semblance of contentment as she lay there. She didn't know how long had passed as she slept but she was awakened when she felt a shadow loom over her grey face. Her eyes opened slowly and a gasp escaped her parted lips as she beheld Bane. His features silhouetted by the hanging light bulb that burned behind his head as he looked down on her. A flashback hit Lily like a brick to her temple; she had been here before, lying completely helpless beneath Bane's quiet shadow.

She yipped and bolted up, gathering the blanket around herself to maintain some dignity. When she glanced up he shook his head and placed a huge hand on her shoulder softly; Lily watched the large man move out of the glare of the light and drag the chair over from her little desk and perch on it grandly like some massive rare bird. Lily couldn't look away from the legs of the chair; wondering how such thin pillars could support such a gigantean patron. When finally she looked at him he was watching her; his expression as always was completely bereft of anything to her.

They sat like that for a long while; an uncomfortable, squirming silence on Lily's part. On Bane's; Lily knew not, but he was looking at her as if he would see her unravelled. She opened her mouth to speak, but when her eyes flicked over to him she thought better of it and waited for him to speak. But he never did.

Leaning forward, Bane reached out a hand towards her. Lily immediately scuttled back away from him, leaving his hand hovering between them; her eyes were dark and hard as she watched him and his eyes dart up to her face. He pulled his hand back and rested it on his knee, lazily he inclined his head and regarded her carefully; it always did seem like he anticipated what she would do, how she would react was always nothing less than what he expected, but his actions were always a mystery to Lily. When his hand was safely on his own person, Lily moved back to her previous position, quietly, carefully, her eyes always checking over at Bane to see if he'd stop her.

While she was busy bustling back into the middle of the bed Lily didn't see Bane, swift as a striking adder, reach out his hand again. With a yelp of fright she felt herself being thrown back only a jerk as Bane's hand covered her chest; his index finger was pressed gently against her throat. Her breath died in her gorge and he felt it contract, her pulse quickening with fright. She clasped the blanket around her, closing her eyes against the terror.

"**Breathe**."

Bane commanded. His voice drowned out the sound of the heater. Gradually Lily opened her eyes and looked at him curiously. Patiently he was waiting for her to obey him; her breath still stalled in her throat, he knew she was holding it out of discomfort. He didn't order her again; he knew she'd need to breathe eventually. So Lily did as she was bidden and released the trembling breath she had been holding, watching Bane all the time she allowed her chest to unknot. When she had done as she was told she raised an eyebrow for him to remove his hand, but he only watched her more closely, clearly waiting for her to take another breath. With a frown Lily breathed in and saw Bane's slit eyebrow rise;

"**Not ragged. You seem much better**." He ruled as he withdrew his hand.

Lily's discomfort didn't diminish, her chest felt scolded like she had sunburn. She collected up the blanket in her fists and dragged the material up to her chin and eyed Bane from behind her protective wall of knees, fists and fabric and saw his eyes narrow.

"**Do I frighten you?**"

"Is that a trick question?" Lily asked incredulously and rudely. "You're a big guy..."

She sucked on the inside of her cheek and averted her eyes. Turning them back on Bane she shrugged and shook her head;

"Haven't you found that you frighten most people?"

"**Yes**."

There came his reply with a short nod of his head. Lily observed as he absently looked around the room, his eyes stopping only on the desk for a short moment before he looked back at Lily. Sitting forward, Lily pulled the blanket away from her mouth and asked softly,

"When can I go outside?"

"**You pine for your old torment?**" He counter-questioned.

Lily frowned, she hadn't thought about it like that. With a shrug of her shoulders she said,

"No...it's just been so long. I feel like I'm going crazy down here."

There was a pause as Bane seemed to weigh up her argument. With a jerk of his head, he motioned with a hand,

"**Soon**. **It will be very soon**." He promised, "**Now that you are less ill you can walk among the others again**."

"Thanks," She whispered grudgingly.

"**Malcontent? Be patient. Soon you will have all that you could ever want**."

Lily felt her eyes narrow as she looked at him. With cock of one of her dark brows she scoffed,

"_All_ I ever wanted? Why would you give me that?"

"**It is in my gift to give**." He explained.

Lily felt her stomach clench when he outstretched his hand again and ran one of his rough fingers down her face very, very gently, so gentle it felt like a feather ghosting her skin, just past her eye and below where her eyebrow ended. He didn't look at her as he added,

"**Some are born with nothing. Some amount to nothing. We will change that**."

His eyes locked with hers and he moved closer, his hand withdrawn again.

"**You will be an example to the ones who shall be punished**."

"P-punished?" Lily blinked.

He nodded.

"**The last of the decadent will be ushered out into the cold and you will be led into the warmth. You will never be cold again, I promise**."

"Why are you doing this?" She stuttered; she was confused at the intensity of him.

His brows came together in a pert frown at the question. Lily searched his strange face and found her eyes drawn to the mask that snarled mechanically at her then back to his eyes which always looked upon her.

"**Because it is time**."

He stated simply and flatly. She watched him rise to his great height and gaze down at her.

"**In time you will see. Be patient**." He said again.

In silence Lily watched him turn and begin to leave when she leaned in his direction and started,

"Wait, Bane..."

He turned, languidly with a hand on the handle of the door; he looked at her as if she were nothing but a shadow on the wall; interesting, but something which did not interest him personally. She gaped, her throat closing at the indifference in his eyes. She was going to tell him that she thought he was wrong, Gotham could not be liberated from corruption, evil and decadence. That she wanted to go now, to leave the sewers. But looking upon that apathy she knew that he couldn't care less what she thought and he would snap her neck to keep her silent until he was ready to unleash himself on his unsuspecting victims in Gotham. Lily realised then that it was safer to bob along with Bane's plans than to oppose them; she merely nodded and smiled weakly at him; hating him inside for making her feel so damned weak and dependent on him.

"Thank you..." She improvised, "I'm grateful for what you've done for me. You didn't have to."

She swallowed while he eyed her,

"**You're right, I didn't**." He countered dangerously.

Lily watched him leave and felt a shiver run down her back. He knew that her gratitude was forced; she thought Bane had enough insight to know that she roundly hated him. Her chest tightened with panic when she thought he may yet kill her one day for that unnatural appreciation.


	11. Light & Plastic

**XI.**

**Light & Plastic**

"So you haven't seen her?"

John asked quizzically the old homeless man who lay sprawled out before him, underneath the underpass marinating in booze and what had to be mostly his own urine. He curled his nose as his pen hovered over his notepad. Raising his eyebrows, John pressed snappishly,

"Well?"

"Eh?" The vagrant hiccupped uncomprehendingly, his moustache twitching.

Sighing, John flipped his notepad closed and nodded,

"Thank you for your time." He snapped sarcastically as the man nodded and saluted him with his drink.

"You're very welcome, officer. Any time."

John shook his head and stalked back over to his squad car. He was worried, more worried than he'd even allowed his own self to believe. Lily had been missing for over a month now; John was frightened that he'd need to start searching morgues.

He'd looked everywhere on a rotation almost. The hostels, bus stations, underpasses, half-way houses, alleyways, garages and burnt-out buildings that Lily was known to haunt. Nothing. John had to hand it to Lily, when she disappeared; she always did it right. For a girl with no means, she certainly knew how to vanish into thin air; in theory, that's probably why she was able to drop off the map so easily; no one really cared what she got up to.

When that thought struck him; John felt a pang of guilt. He should have stayed with her at Gotham General, he beat himself up. He should have made sure; he should have known that Lil was only going along to the hospital to keep him happy and the minute his back was turned; she'd be off, refusing any help. He shook his head and gripped the wheel of his car and thought furiously; as he always did when it came to Lily, why was she so dead-set against relying on anybody? She was homeless, penniless and sick; she_ needed_ people.

_She'd needed him and he'd left that night_. John sighed and pressed his head against the wheel. What had he done? He was so anxious that he'd get a call through his radio and it'd be the mort guys telling him that a body had been found matching her description and that he needed to come down to the morgue and identify her. She had looked so grey, so very ill and so sickly when he'd left her; she was scared too, terrified of the tubes and everything and John had ran out. Abandoned her. Like he always did.

No.

John thought heavily, his head jerking up from the wheel. Gripping it, he slammed his foot down and ripped back the clutch, he wasn't going to think like this anymore, he was driving himself mad thinking about how he'd failed Lily. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it as he pulled out of the underpass and back onto the road. Glancing over, his eyes fell on a map of Gotham sprawled out on the passenger seat; all the sewers entrances and exits were marked in red marker. John frowned; he just had to make sense of all..._this_. What had that slippery weasel, Daggett been up to? John had no idea, but it involved his construction workers and the sewers; he'd managed to pull massive grants to get the whole network renovated. That coupled with what the Commissioner said he saw down below made John shudder.

At least Batman was back on the scene now, John consoled himself. They needed the Bat more than ever now. If what lurked beneath really _did_ lurk, then the people of Gotham would need Bruce Wayne before the end. John still couldn't believe that Bruce Wayne was Batman, but it made sense. To himself at any rate. He could identify with the millionaire orphan more so than he could with the subdued vigilante; although, John did wish he had more wiggle-room in his job, more-so-like a vigilante. He understood why Bruce did what he did.

He just hoped that they'd be able to work this mess out before Gotham was to fall victim to Bane and his plans. Whatever they may be. His mind wandered as he was driving back, always back, like it always did, to Lily. John clicked his tongue as he turned a loose corner and his own frown deepened,

"I'll find you, Lil...No frets."

He nodded slightly, then with a saddened sigh; turned in at one of the local hospitals. He had to know if she'd been handed in anywhere. Dead or alive.

* * *

Lily breathed a sigh of relief when Barsad strode past her and didn't stop. The others around the place were beginning to get a little snippy about his speaking to her; but in Lily's defence, she never instigated it. She couldn't stand him. Turning, she felt the eyes of one of the workers on her; she shivered, they had been talking about her. She'd heard them say things about her pertaining to Bane. They were all just as baffled as she was as to why she was given special preference by the big boss man and his second-in-command. Lily ignored their stares and hushed hisses. She just concentrated on the ceiling most of the time.

She hung over the side of the railing that overlooked the huge aqueduct that fed into the main outflow; it was like a massive man-made waterfall. Lily always gazed past that up to the dark yawning ceiling which the surface presumably ebbed above. Lily couldn't wait to get out of this damp, mossy hell below. Whilst she was leaning over daydreaming, ignoring everyone else around her and unwilling to do any work; she felt a hand grip her coat at the shoulder and pull her back. She started and made a weak attempt to punch her attacker – her strength was not fully regained, so it was a feeble attempt at defence indeed.

The girl stopped short anyway when she saw that it was Barsad. His hawkish face was hard and unsmiling;

"Get back. Go to your room."

His tone cut through her initial annoyance at his rough-housing. Shaking her head uncomprehendingly, she garbled,

"Bars-hey, what?!"

He gripped her closer, his features lost their angry edge and he whispered urgently,

"I'm telling you. Now. Go back to your room."

She had heard that urgency before. Lily stared dumbly, blankly up at him. She had definitely heard that ring in someone's tone before, but where she could not quite fathom. Nodding slowly, Barsad bobbed his head along with her and peered down into the complex furtively. It was then that Lily realised that the place was strangely quiet, it was almost ethereal. Barsad gnashed his teeth and glanced up,

"Too late..." He sighed.

Lily followed his eyes upwards; she was momentarily blinded by the floodlights that shone above. The strain on her neck, pressing against her throat as she looked up made her cough. She stifled it as she beheld two figures alone on one of the catwalks. She gasped and felt Barsad's grip on her loosen as they watched a titanic show down begin; the Batman and Bane were both atop that suspended walkway.

"What's happening, Barsad?" Lily whispered her voice barely above the rushing water.

When he didn't answer, she looked to him and heard grunting coming from the catwalk. It took every ounce of self-restraint not to turn back. She watched as Barsad grinned and eyed her briefly,

"History, souris. A great chapter of Gotham's history."

Lily frowned and shook her head mute and Barsad nodded past her and she turned back just in time to see the Batman be thrown off the catwalk by a gigantean Bane. Lily gasped when the Dark Knight struck a vat and then bounced from that and slammed down onto the wet floor she watched the big man, Bane; scuttle down a chain -amazingly nimble - to join the Bat on the ground.

"He's dead." Barsad commented behind her.

Without realising it, Lily was nodding along vacantly.

"I suppose he is."

She uttered quietly as she observed Bane prowl around the Bat; their showdown _far_ from over.


	12. Radiance in The Down

**XII.**

**Radiance in The Down**

_Bone on bone, it's magnetic. The bones of the strong crush the bones of the weak. While I dream, darkness's bones impound on my soft bones perverting the marrow and unhinging the joints. Knees slacken, elbows go limp. I'm lost in it, unable to move; for my bones are all powder, they're then cast to the winds. It is a waste. Darkness cannot be reined, saddled or bridled; for darkness is different, darkness is he; and nobody can control him. When he falls, his mass overpowers and shrouds all in his dusk. _

_He is unstoppable, and like metal that must be folded, I bend to the will of this Darkness, falling before him on my ruined knees. Here is now, I forego the light and turn my back on radiance. Retreat, I shall be safe in his shadow. The cavernous wraith protects me. I am untouchable; my bones have no need to be strong anymore. Reborn as I am in the heavy gloom._

_Sometimes I think I am Persephone..._

Lily's breath caught and she flinched when Bane plunged his fist into the Batman's cowl. The other man was thrown back with a cry. Lily was practically about to fall down into the complex she was leaning so far over the railing to get a look at the two strangest beings she had ever seen battle it out. She could feel Barsad's absent hand clutching her coat to keep her from tumbling over the side. Her eyes widened when she watched Bane grasp Batman by the throat and lift him effortlessly for a moment before flinging him down like he was an action figure which Bane had grown tired of and would now break.

It was savage. Casting her eyes around the huge room, Lily could see all the workers, vagrants and mercenaries watching the fight from the various levels. It felt like an arena. She frowned down on the gladiators and licked her lips; she couldn't hear what Bane was saying from up here, but she could tell he was enjoying toying with Batman. She shook her head and flung herself back, Barsad barely noticed, so enthralled was he to the clash down below. Lily managed to slip away, down the stairs which led down into the first level.

She gripped the slightly wet railing on this level and peered down; she couldn't see anything, the lights had gone down. Her chest tightened, the rushing water was blocking any sound from her ears and she clicked her tongue in acute annoyance and whipped round, turning away from the darkened coliseum and flew further down into the complex until she was on the ground floor.

"...**You merely adopted the dark**,"

She stopped dead. Her hand pressed to the cold wall, Lily closed her eyes, her ears pricked to his voice.

"**I was born in it. Moulded by it**." His mechanical rasp taunted as he stepped around languidly.

"**I didn't see the light until I was already a man**,"

She could only hear him barely because of her own breath ringing in her ears as she took a ginger step forward, through a gaping doorway; Lily was framed in the passage, tiny in comparison. She saw Bane standing, his head bowed as if he were listening intently. Lily was entranced by the scene; she heard him utter almost to himself;

"**By then the light was nothing to me but **_**BLINDING**_!"

Lily shrieked fearfully when he whipped round ferociously and clasped the Batman by the throat again and dragged him away from her. She swallowed. Her eyes jerking from side to side; the Batman had been close to her, so very close and she could see his face now; or, she could see his mask. His gloved hand was outstretched desperately, the other one ripping at Bane's wrist that was pulsating with the effort to hold him aloft.

"**The shadows betray **_**you**_** because they belong to **_**me**_." Bane pronounced viciously, squeezing his neck.

Her old and battered sneakers weren't water-tight enough to keep the damp from seeping through as she stepped into the abyss of their encounter. Lily could feel the eyes of the militia above her, taking her in; watching her as though she were a character in a play and Bane's brutality was her cue to enter the stage. She watched silently as Bane threw punches at the Bat and finally flung the caped man to his knees; his costume was drenched, inky and glistening like the body of a slug and writhing on the wet ground like a worm in contrast to Bane who stood tall and strong like an unrelenting tree. He stepped back, held out a hand; Lily gasped as Barsad shouldered past her very softly and handed Bane a switch.

"**I will show you where I have been making my home while preparing to bring justice to your city**,"

Bane said throwing a glance over to Lily who stood quietly and small over to his right, eyes huge; taking in this cruel scene, swaying in the wet, as cold an inflexible as a thin plank of wood. He blinked and turned back to Batman and said evenly,

"**Then...I will break you**."

With a small wave of his hand, Bane turned ever so slightly round to Lily and nodded. She blinked gaping at him and felt warm fingers wrap themselves around her own and pull her backwards. She didn't turn; she knew that it was Barsad, but she couldn't look away from Bane towering over Batman's panting black form. Suddenly the ground rocked beneath her feet, Lily gasped and gripped Barsad, throwing her eyes to the ceiling which she'd observed for so long now; her mouth hung open in wonderment as fire exploded and rubble imploded to reveal the white and brilliant light of up above. It busted through with a deafening bang, Lily and Barsad hit the floor.

She shrugged off his arms, his body which shielded her so that she could get another look at the black sky now ripped to reveal the white beneath; like the skin and flesh of a fish. That was freedom up there. That was her escape. Her throat contracted as she was dragged back to reality by Bane's voice,

"**Your precious armoury**." He said to the Batman.

"**Gratefully accepted, we will need it**." He added, with – if Lily could have seen his mouth – a smile.

Barsad's arm was still slung over her partially in a protective way; Lily shirked him off and stood up fully, she felt the mercenary rise too. Suddenly the Batman got to his feet and unleashed a painfully anguished battle cry, it sounded frantic, laced with sheer desperation and thronged through despair. Bane was unfazed and commented idly while shifting his colossal weight completely unabashed,

"**Ah, I wondered what would break first**," He remarked smoothly.

The Batman ignored him and flew for the massive man, holding nothing back. Lily watched Bane wrangle the other man effortlessly, a punch to the gut, a knee to the chest and then finally a heavy fist on the back of the Bat's neck to throw him down at Bane's feet and mercy.

"**You're spirit**?" Bane asked as he gripped the Bat's cape and scuff,

Lily gasped and covered her mouth with a hand as she watched horrified Bane hold the Batman up over his head, right up in the air and roar,

"**Or you're BODY**?!"

There was a crack. A sickening, rueful crack that resonated throughout the complex. Lily found herself backing into Barsad timidly, wilting beneath Bane's feral strength, his wild tenacity to destroy. The Batman lay broken, unmoving in the shower of cold water beneath Bane's shadow; just as Lily had done so herself on more than one occasion. She felt sick then; oddly, like a child who would see the legs pulled from a spider, the wings from a fly, she stepped forward and ignored Barsad's silent warning that she stay put when he gripped her arm tighter.

He let go as she minced forward and peered down at the Bat. His cowl had cracked; a rift that ran from one of the little pointy ears right down into the cowl's mouth piece. Lily could see the man beneath; he was spluttering, but she couldn't make out his features, or who he was. He was gazing up at her, his eyes foggy from the extreme pain that must have been battering his body. It was a moment of such intensity, Lily felt bathed in the light from above, silhouetting her face, she could see droplets of water glistening from her hair and plopping down on the Batman. Suddenly she felt very wrong, stepping back without realising she felt her heel connect with something and she started with a gasp and turned round to see Bane was behind her.

Bearing down on her, his arms were shaking, he was eyeing her as though he had only just realised that she was there and in his hand was the other half of the Batman's broken cowl. Lily glanced down at it as he held it out to her slowly and presented it like a gift. Like something an animal might do. She looked up; he was still looking at her, his dark eyes dull like the carcass of a black beetle, but his body seemed to glow with adrenaline. Water dripped from his own mask, glinting at her in the harsh light. Delicately, she plucked the cowl from his huge hand and stared at it, completely forgetting the watching masses; she stood before Bane and accepted the broken mask.

She flinched when he touched her face to get her attention; the falling water was drowning out any sound. Her eyes slid up and he looked up to the light, Lily blinked up too and beheld what Bane had promised he'd give her. She swallowed a lump and stared back at Bane and he to her, Lily's face was as white as marble.

"**For you**."

He said graciously and bowed his head. Lily's brow twitched, she was so confused; she had never felt more looked after in all her life, and yet all he had given her was the most minimal care, a broken mask and a hole in the sky. It was _more_ than anybody else had ever given her in all honesty. Lily's dark eyes drank in the sight of the light above and then him as he towered above her, close enough so that she could actually hear him over the waters. Her forearms were pressed into his body warmer, as she clutched the mask.

"What-" She was cut off as he shook his head and pointed at the mask in her grasp,

"**Soon you will be outside**."

He promised her quietly and placed a hand on her shoulder almost affectionately except he roughly shoved her aside and out of the shower of freezing water and motioned to Barsad. The mercenary came up alongside Lily and eyed her suspiciously then looked to his General for orders,

"**Take her**," Bane commanded with an absent wave. "**Keep her dry**."

Lily was about to protest but she was swept away by Barsad. The last thing she saw before she was ushered downstairs was Bane standing, suffused in the white light of above, watching his men bustle around and drag the unconscious Batman off somewhere to await Bane's pleasure.

In that regard he was not unlike herself.


	13. And Here We Are

**XIII.**

**And Here We Are**

"'Take you'?"

Barsad grumbled in an undertone and shook his head, gripping Lily's thin arm.

"Take you _where_? The whole place is up in the air!"

He hissed, looking around the frantic crush of people who were all getting on with emptying Wayne's armoury. Glancing down at the young girl in his grasp, Barsad felt his anger and frustration melt away; she was shaking, trembling in her too-big overall-like clothes, freezing and sodden. Her mane of thick dark hair stuck to her grey hallowed cheeks and chattering jaw. She was clutching her prize to her chest; the broken cowl winked – still wet – from the confines of her hands that looked like white spiders against the dark of the mask.

She was pressed up against him, lost and tiny in amongst the rough masses. He saw her peep up at him completely unseeing; her dark eyes large and luminous, like a little lost puppy. He clicked his tongue off of the roof of his mouth and looked away, slightly annoyed with her for being so damned helpless.

"Alright, souris," Barsad began with a sigh, glancing back.

She ignored him but felt his grip lessen only to be replaced by a much warmer embrace as he threw his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm to warm her,

"It's okay. Come on."

He uttered and gently herded her through the press of people. Lily's breath was uneven and she felt a cough about erupt from her throat. She gripped her chest and bent over, ducking right under Barsad's arm by accident; he whipped back and eyed the crowd frantically; he couldn't see her anywhere. Lily hacked and spluttered, she felt dizzy she coughed so hard, she thought her brain might burst out of her ears. She was pushed back, her wafer body carried along the commotion like a paper-thin shell might surf along a current. Sinking to her knees, oblivious to the throng of boots, legs and hands that marched past her, unseeing to her problem, Lily pressed her head to the floor and began to cough really hard.

Lily's vision started to flicker, she was frightened she'd bring up blood and held the broken mask closer to her chest, squeezing it as though she'd get some relief from the inanimate material. Suddenly she raised her head and felt her crown connect with something soft; peering to her sides she saw a knee, it was bent but was still eye-level with her with a hand rested on it indolently, and on the other side a boot. A very large boot. Lily looked up, her eyes rested on Bane's mask, and his eyes all glaring down at her; his body was hunched over hers like a protective casing. Her head grazed his chest as she craned her head back further to squint up at him.

Water was still dripped from his mask, making him appear to be akin to some wild, salivating beast. Lily shuddered underneath him; he glowered down on her, from his vantage point she looked tiny, the redness around her eyes striking. She looked so tired, so sick. She must have known because she looked away from him as he shook his head and rolled his eyes. She gasped when she felt his hand slip warmly inside her coat and press against her skinny abdomen and lift her easily from cold ground; for a second time he pulled her free of the danger and carried her through the commotion; everyone's eyes gradually turning to watch him lift her past them all and to safety.

Curled up against Bane's damp chest, Lily still held the Bat's broken cowl in her cold hands. Bane peered down at it but made no comment as they pressed on through the bustling ground floor of the complex which was now almost over-lit thanks to Bane's explosives.

"What's going to happen to him?" Lily whispered against Bane's collarbone.

The big man didn't answer straight away, he merely looked down and shrugged. Then finally said,

"**The man of privilege should have learned our despair before he tried to combat it**."

Lily nodded, her head felt light. Leaning against Bane, she sighed,

"I think I'm going to die..."

"**Not yet. I bought your life. I determine when it ends**." Bane replied staunchly.

With a shrug, Lily closed her dark eyelids and swallowed – grimacing as pain rocketed up her throat to her head.

Just as Bane cut a path through the mass of mercs, Barsad approached them; his expression looked repentant as Bane came up before him; Lily hanging from his arms as light as a spider's web. She gave him the most vacant of looks, her eye lids beginning to grow heavy. He looked from her to Bane and stipulated frankly,

"She just vanished, Bane-"

"**As you were, Barsad**." Bane interjected even more frankly.

Lily's eyes opened wider her head was lolling as she tried to follow what Bane and Barsad were saying. Bane's voice rumbled throughout his chest and reverberated through her arms wakening her a little. She saw Barsad give her a resentful glare before he stalked off. She shook her head weakly and waved her hand with great effort which stopped Barsad's departure and made Bane eye the girl in his arms.

"Thanks..." Lily rasped, her eyelids flickering. "Thanks, Barsad."

With that; the mercenary looked sheepish and nodded his head as he slipped round Bane to help with the quarry of Wayne's armoury.

"You shouldn't be angry with him...It was my fault, I fell behind."

Lily maintained with a frown puckering her brow. Her tone made Bane look at her carefully, she felt his warm hands press into her back and heft her slightly to get a better grip on her slight body.

"**I'll remember that you said that**."

He said strangely.

"Whatever..."

Lily breathed and her eyelids drooped closed. Bane watched as she to all intents and purposes, fell asleep in his arms; the Batman's broken mask resting on her tummy.


	14. Two Hearts Beating

**XIV.**

**Two Hearts Beating**

_Animalistic, primal; two pairs of feet, two pairs of hands; mouths exploring, fingers raking and meeting. An exposed throat, an icicle kiss from a twisted mouth of rivets and bolts, tubes and metal. Still a finer and more passionate thing than the most urgent kiss from the softest mouth. Separated, the metal and flesh merely graze, gently dig into; like a smooth plate along my cheekbones, dug along my jaw, down my supple throat. Growls in throats like two caged beasts grappling for something rawer; something more in amongst the paws and claws, the unbridled fever. Chests pressed together in a deafening crack like lightening; two forms tackle, break, before their frenzy climbs higher and higher. It is impossible, unstoppable; the facade of desire clings heavily until the mad haze is lifted and I am no longer one of the wild things. No, I am not one of them. Yet, still I lie here, sleeping in the arms of a monster like its paramour._

With a gasp, Lily bolted up, clinging at covers, she fell from the softness she had been lying on and down onto the cold floor with a slap. Her bitter little hands grasped the concrete, she was confused and flung a feverish gaze around the room; taking in her surroundings. She relaxed. She was back to the beginning; like Alice down the Rabbit Hole; back in the room with the drink to make her small, except there was no strange fairytale monster to greet her from her slumber. She peered up and beheld the piled up mattresses and hooked her thin arm over the top and attempted to hoist herself up. She failed miserably and slid back down to the floor, appallingly weak. With a sigh, she ripped down the rest of the blankets and curled up in a ball beside the mattresses and sobbed feebly until sleep took her for itself once more.

The darkness was pressing against her again. Almost smothering her, she managed to gasp at some air before the mass effect of _him_, the darkness withdrew. Lily's eyes opened again, she was comfortable; stretching deeply, she rolled over and gasped sharply as she nearly fell off of the mattresses again only for a strong hand to press up against her middle and push her back on to the mattresses; back from the edge. Again. She lay back on her hindmost and looked up loftily at Bane who was in turn staring down at her. Everything felt..._wobbly_.

Lily coughed and tried to sit up but his hand bore down on her chest, imploring her to lay back and rest. She relented and blinked slowly trying to focus her eyes. Why was everything so bendy? She blinked again, this time to shake away the nauseating ripples in the air.

"**I gave you a shot of morphine**." Bane elucidated coolly.

Lily turned her head to him and frowned,

"Shyou dids what?" She slurred. Shaking her head, she vacantly batted her own cheek and giggled.

"Morphine...?" She repeated and suddenly her expression sobered, "In't that what shyou give people before they die?" She queried; her mouth dry. Bane shook his head at her question and educated her,

"**It was only to relax your muscles; you were near vomiting from the exertion of coughing. Once it wears off you'll ache**."

"I alwaysh ache." Lily stipulated rudely with a weary frown and saw his shoulders jump uncharacteristically.

She thought she might have just made him chuckle.

"**Don't we all**."

He asked of no one in particular, Lily felt, so she didn't answer – merely nodded. After a moment she watched Bane get up, he had since changed from his wet clothes; Lily peeked down and saw that she was also in some fresh clothes. She was too out of it to even protest to her unconscious wardrobe change and flicked her eyes back up to the ceiling and raised an eyebrow when she remembered Bane and looked at him.

"**You must stop falling**," He commented, his eyes downcast. He was fiddling with something.

With an over-taxed grunt, Lily sat up on her elbows to frown at Bane. He was at the other side of the room, standing over his table with his back to her. Lily's brow furrowed even more so when he turned and eyed her; from her vantage point on the bed; with she looking slightly up and the bare, hard light blazing from above his head, his face was half engulfed in gloom, the shadow's long soft fingers coiled around his waist and stretched over his mask and left eye, reaching over a strong shoulder. He looked half devoured in the shade; Lily shivered as the wraith remarked from the darkness;

"**I won't keep on picking you up**."

Lily felt her chest rise up and down gently; she was snug and warm on the mattresses, under the blankets; but Bane's voice chilled her to her very bones and she blinked slowly as he turned around fully and strolled back over to her and held out to her a gun which glinted in this hard light.

"**You may want to keep this close once I'm gone**." He offered in a matter-of-factly tone.

Completely dumbfounded, Lily picked the gun from his hand tentatively like she didn't want to. Bane stood patiently and waited until she grasped it by the handle, her blue knuckles looked fragile around such a powerful weapon and he sighed before he swooped back down into his seat. Lily turned a dark eye on him and shook her head to clear it; she sniffed and stifled a cough before asking quietly,

"So...where are you going? Was that all you wanted to do? Kill Batman?"

"**Kill him**?" Bane frowned, "**I didn't kill him. He will suffer a fate **_**worse**_** than death**."

Lily shuddered, "Why? Why did you do that to him? What are you doing?"

"**So many questions...I suppose you think you have a right to know? Do you think the slaves who built the Pyramids knew why they were doing what they were doing?**"

Lily shook her head, "What's that have to do with anything?"

"**Everything**."

Bane countered sharply, making Lily shrink slightly.

"**All they knew is that they were building something for someone. I once called you a link in a chain, you are just that; one of them who knows that they are here for **_**something**_."

"That..." Lily began feebly with a shake of her head, "...makes no sense...You know that, right?"

"**It makes no sense to you because you do not have the sight to see what I have planned for Gotham. You will be one of the many who build this new age. Except, you are fortunate**," He said, his elbows leant on his knees.

"**You are fortunate because you already bought yourself some hope. I will give you more than hope; I will give you a **_**purpose**_."

"You keep saying that; you'll give me a 'purpose', what makes you think I need you to give me anything?"

Lily asked, not unkindly, nor ungraciously. Her tone was mild as though she was merely hypothesising a life where she didn't have to be dug out from the gutter, a life where she didn't need him to scoop her up from the peril of frozen sidewalks and darkened alleyways. Her question made him peer at her closely; Lily thought he eyed her as though he had never met or ever seen somebody like her.

"**You were broken. You still need to be mended...I...**" He broke off and Lily's eyes widened.

She had never heard Bane be at a loss for words before and she leaned closer, gazing curiously at the big man as he sat with his head bowed, his eyes boring into the space between his knees.

"**You move me**." He said at last and Lily stirred back.

"**You move me and I think that I ought to be kind to you**."

"But...why?" Lily shook her head and he glanced up at her. His eyes intense above the snarling chops of his mask.

"**I don't know**." He replied and looked away.

Suddenly he was on his feet, his massive paws dangling at his hips, swung softly as he spoke.

"**Be mindful and remember what I told you about thinking. I'll be gone from here for a while. You're free to go**."

Lily gawped, the gun still in her shivering hand.

"G-go?" She stuttered and Bane nodded.

"**Yes. I will return soon, but you're free to go up to the surface. You can deliberate on which side you'll select or you can stay down here until I return and emerge from below with a force to break the necks of those who failed this great city and her people**."

She supposed he was being figurative about her breaking anybody's neck. Lily could barely lift her own arm, let alone break someone's neck. Their eyes locked as he waited for her to respond; her red-rimmed eyes sparkled in the harsh light and she blinked before tearing her eyes away;

"I'll stay..." She whispered and saw Bane's shadow's head nod.

"**Very well. Stay in this room. Keep that close at hand**," He motioned to the gun.

"**This** **time is ours, the new dawn is fast approaching; you'll get a good view from where you'll be, Lily**."

The use of her name and with his voice made her stare directly at him. He had a hand on the door; his sheepskin coat was bundled up in one hand;

"**You'll witness the rebirth of your world as you know it. Be thankful that you yourself are now one of the privileged**."

"What do you mean?" Lily squeaked.

She watched as he shifted his weight and passed his coat from one hand to the other and strode over to the mattresses and knelt beside them. She kept her eyes on him at all times and felt her stomach tighten when he brushed a curl of her dark hair from her shoulder; his shadowy eyes still avoided looking at her face whenever he touched her and she glared harder at him.

"**Like I said; **_**I shall be kind to you**_**. You are not your own, so I will take you**."

"Take me?!" She snapped making him look at her.

"**You** **couldn't control your own lot. You needed a firm hand, someone to take the helm of your existence and put it on a course; I have done that. You have hope now, more than you ever did slumping in alleyways. Am I right?**"

Lily's eyes slid away; her pale cheeks aflame with shame.

"Yes..." She uttered with a sigh, driven to the truth by him.

"**Well then**," He said getting up again. Lily ignored him but started when he gently patted her head,

"**In this new age you'll see what people of no consideration will do to be considered; to have all that they feel they **_**should**_**. You'll see the lengths people will go to curry favour; you should be reassured that you had to do so little to get my attention**."

"Oh, I'm ecstatic." Lily growled barbed and heard him make a strange 'huh' sound.

"**You will be when you see the renovations I have planned for your city. Remember, though**..."

Lily looked at him; he was bent down now; his hands resting on his knees and his mask mere inches from Lily's nose. She shuddered to feel the odourless air rush from his mask brush her face; she blinked, enthralled to his intense gaze as he threatened with a quiet coldness that made her cower inwardly;

"**You see now how high a beast can jump up in any given climate. If you be so bold with me you will see how soon they can be slapped down for their lack of grace**."

Lily nodded, shaken into silence by the frost in his voice.

* * *

_Oooh, Bane-evil-ness; mwuhahahaha! *Ahem* So! Please review guys! Let me know what you think, it only takes but a moment of your time._


	15. Tells in Animosity

**XIV.**

**Tells in Animosity **

"You look starved."

Barsad commented as Lily moped about her new room. She turned an eye on him and scoffed sarcastically,

"Oh, really? I thought I was a picture of health."

"Well, you certainly are not that. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." She snapped and ignored her belly's growls. Hunger clawed at her.

"Here," Said the mercenary chucking her over some chips and a bottle of water.

"Delectable." Lily sneered and tore open the packet. Barsad sat on the chair by the mattresses and smirked,

"Y'know, for a little gutter-rat, you're quite well-spoken."

"Oh, thanks..."

"Where are you from, souris?" He asked and Lily frowned while chewing.

"I thought you didn't have time for my story?" She said pertly and Barsad chuckled.

"I'm at liberty until Bane gets back. So?"

"So?" Lily countered and raised an eyebrow, "Where's Bane off to, then?"

"I asked you first. Come on, it's only fair." He bartered and Lily eyed him coldly,

"Yes, but you're not planning on telling me anything, are you?"

"Maybe. You never know." He grinned and Lily sat back suspicious of him;

"Why are you so smiley? Where's he gone?"

She pressed and Barsad shook his head, his features growing more hawkish as his annoyance with her inability to _not_ be single-minded spiked in his blood.

"Just tell me-"

"Oh, alright, fine!" She barked and sat back still absently chewing the chips she shrugged and said mildly.

"I was born and have lived in Gotham all my life. There. Happy?"

"You weren't 'raised'?" Barsad queried.

"What?"

"You said you were born in Gotham and 'lived' here all of your life. You weren't raised?"

Sadness lanced Lily's heart and made her look away from him. He shifted seeing the mournfulness in her eyes and leaned forward, "Sorry..." He began and Lily waved him away;

"No...No, you're sharp. I wasn't really raised by anybody...I stayed at an orphanage until I aged out at sixteen. Then...things started getting..._tough_."

"Tough?" He reiterated and Lily nodded idly unscrewing the top off the water bottle,

"Yeah...not much work." She explained, "Things are slim in Gotham. I've been living here and there ever since."

"Gotham's a hard city." Barsad agreed and nodded.

"Well," Lily began, "Where's Bane away to?"

"You don't give up, do you?"

"No, if I did I'd be long dead now. C'mon, just tell me...I need to know."

"Do you?" He asked in a tense voice that made Lily blink.

"Well...yes. I won't say anything if that's what you're worried about-"

She was cut off as he got up and asked; blatantly interrupting her,

"Is that why you are so sick?"

Lily scowled, "Is what why I'm so sick?"

"You've been living on the streets since you were sixteen...Is that why you're always so ill?"

"Yes...I-I'd always been lucky come the cold. But not so much this year." She confessed and peered up at him,

His dark eyes searched her shrunken face and he cocked an eyebrow and assumed stoutly,

"No family then? Since you lived in an orphanage."

Suddenly Lily's temper flared, how dare he ask her so many questions! She turned away and threw her nose in the air and folded her arms and replied grandly,

"Obviously. Now if you're not gonna' tell me anything then you can go away right now, Barsad."

"Hey now!" He soothed her, raising his hands, "I was going to tell you. I just wondered if you had anybody outside. Up there." He said nodding upwards towards the surface where Lily was rest-assured she'd 'soon' be.

"No...I don't have anybody. Well, I do...I mean I _did _have someone, but he probably thinks I'm dead now."

"No wonder. You always look dead." He joked in a brittle voice and Lily made a face,

"Charming." She sighed and wrung her hands, "No...I...Well the night Bane found me and took me down here..."

Her voice faded in her throat as it usually did every time she even thought about that night she first met Bane. The first night she had ever felt his power, his undeniable force. She shook her head and looked at Barsad,

"The night before I checked myself out of the hospital...I think that's the straw that broke the camel's back."

"Why?" Barsad asked, a brow quirked upwards and Lily shrugged,

"There's only so much help that can be offered and turned down. I think John must have gotten pretty sick of it, to be honest. I don't blame him."

"John?"

"He's my friend...my only friend, actually. And I threw it away because of my stupid pride."

"_You_ have pride?" Barsad ridiculed and Lily glowered at the dark-haired man,

"Yes. Yes, I do. I don't care if you think I'm nothing, Barsad. I always thought I was better than what I am...I tried, I did. I just couldn't cut it, but that's no one's fault but my own. I never burdened anybody, I never made a fuss. John always just took me upon himself and I always tried to fight it! So you can shut that smirking mouth."

Lily was shaken by the depth of her own venom and bit it back as Barsad eyed her glacially and huffed stoutly,

"Well you seem to have that _effect_ on men; I'll give you that much, souris."

"_Excuse_ me?"

She hissed impertinent and he grinned again, this time with an inclination of his head like she should know what he was talking about. With a challenging arch of her eyebrow, she shook her head and waited for him to speak,

"You're pathetic." He spat simply.

"That's why Bane saved you. You're the _shining example_ to all the gutter-rats down here that've joined us; and you couldn't even do that right. Bane's pretty-little-mascot who can't even stand up on her own two legs. Everyone thinks you're trash, lower than garbage. When we reach the surface you'll be paraded about the rich like some prize pony – only, you _aren't_ a prize."

At the end of his monologue he was almost panting, his face all twisted and ugly. With a hollow unabashed chuckle, Lily spat right back at him;

"I've been pathetic my entire life, but at least I'm not some Sasquatch's little bitch!"

"You dare insult Bane?!"

"You were the one who just questioned him there! If he's the great 'liberator' you keep harping on about, why don't you trust his decision to pick me up?!"

"Because _you_ don't deserve liberation!"

Barsad bellowed wildly, throwing back his hand to punctuate what he was saying,

"You of all of them don't! Look at you; you should be dead. You should have faded away, blown to hell by the wind in a merciful puff! You're _literally_ nothing and yet you get taken in. You've done nothing to deserve what you'll get."

Lily was absolutely agog at his contempt and simply stared at him, mouth open, and eyes wide.

"Are you annoyed because Bane saved me?" She asked in a hushed voice, "Barsad, I had nothing to do with coming down here. Bane just picked me up off of the street and when I woke up I was here-"

"Exactly," He stipulated. "You're worse than a thief because you hide beneath a facade of weakness and vulnerability."

"Bane's just a _sap_." He denounced the masked man and Lily felt her spine stiffen.

"What?" He teased spitefully seeing her expression, "Are you going to tell him I said that?"

"Maybe." Lily said darkly, pushed to the end of her tether with his resentfulness and indignation of her for no reason.

"Bane said some things to me before he left. Maybe I will tell him and he'll make _me_ his second –in-command. Apparently all you need to do is nod and say 'yes, sir, no, sir, three bags full, sir.'"

"You'd make a better bitch than me, at any rate." He fired back and Lily felt her face redden,

"Get out. Get out right now, you _bastard_."

"Oh, don't worry," He nodded enthusiastically whipping round on his heel. He turned just before the door,

"Get what you can _while_ you can, little Lily. Since Bane's in a giving mood."

He smirked gleefully as he added pettily,

"I'll just sit back comfortably and watch you rise as high as you can go. And not lift one finger when you fly too close to that sun and fall right back down to the drain where you belong, souris. Mark my words."

"Not before you get thrown down for your attitude, Barsad. Mark _my_ words."

"Oh, so you're threatening _me_ now? Well, well, little souris. We'll see who falls first then won't we. Just remember who's standing between you and all those tramps out there in the sewers." He reminded her with a wicked glint in his dark eyes, "Remember who you're new_ keeper_ put in charge of you in his absence."

Lily seethed at that and gripped the blankets that were pooled around,

"I should think your_ last_ one's glad to be shot of you."

He insulted her dryly before banging the door shut and leaving her alone and enraged.

Bane's gun winked temptingly at her from the little table.

* * *

_Misunderstood Bane is misunderstood by Barsad & everybody around him. Don't worry, my doves; all shall become clear, as Bane would say: "**Soon. Be patient**." Haha, anyway - enjoy! _

**=D**


	16. I Won't Be Your Sorrow

_Quite a long-ish one. Thanks for reviewing & following! _

_Drop me some more reviews, please. They make me smiiiiile._

**:D**

* * *

**XV.**

**I Won't Be Your Sorrow**

The argument with Barsad left a bitter taste in Lily's mouth. With a grunt, she turned over on her mattresses and lay with her back to the door he had just slammed closed and blinked back tears; hoping they'd abate. Knowing they would not. She cursed Barsad and her own stupid self for crying. So what if she was pathetic, so what if no one thought she was anything. Lily didn't care...

Except she did.

She cared a great deal. Ever since she had been a kid she'd hated the way she was perceived by everyone around her; the other kids, hatred for her weakness, pushing her over into the mud, the adults all treated her with a kind of puzzled kindness; it was almost like she had survived a dreadful illness and still needed to be treated delicately. There had only ever been one kid who didn't treat her like she was nothing and that had been John. More tears managed to squeeze themselves out of Lily's eyes as she remembered those days.

* * *

"Sorry about those guys. Here, let me help you up."

"Its fine, I'm used to it...but thanks."

Lily grumbled as she grasped the new kid's hand. She pushed her scraggily hair aside and squinted up at the newest kid, smiled her pretty smile and said,

"You're the new kid, right? Made friends quick..." She said motioning to the jeering boys behind the new kid.

"Yeah, uh..."

"Come on, John!"

"They're...uh; they're pretty stupid, huh? Look, I'll tell 'em to leave you alone, 'kay?"

"Gee, thanks a bunch. I'll be on my knees in the morning thanking God that you intervened."

The small girl snapped with a cheery smile that made John unsure if she was joking or not. Lily grinned and raised her eyebrows at his silence and nodded awkwardly,

"I meant 'thanks' by the way." She finally said and he chuckled nervously,

"Oh, right! Yeah...'kay, good. I'll tell the guys."

Lily smiled very warmly at John then and ducked her head;

"Thanks, new kid." She said whilst turning on her heel.

"It's John. John Blake."

"Right. Thanks, Blake."

* * *

Lily's heart was beating; thrashing around her chest like an angry finch. Her breath was ragged and she flinched timidly when she felt a hand on her wrist; she turned slightly and her eyes locked with John's dark ones.

"Hey, it's alright. You'll be fine, you're only turning fourteen."

Lily managed a smile and looked away but gripped his hand tightly, her palms sweaty. She wasn't 'just' turning fourteen; she was edging closer and closer to the limit. In another two years she'd be aged out and she'd have to leave the orphanage; then what would she do? She felt like crying, bawling her eyes out and screaming for rescue from this place; but she couldn't. She was trapped, trapped until she was thrown to the ravenous, slavering grey wolf that was Gotham.

"Lil," She heard her name and peeped round, John was frowning at her.

"You're shaking. Calm down, everything's gonna' be alright."

"How can you say that?!" She hissed in an undertone; they were before the mass and had to be quiet.

"What?" He said and Lily clicked her tongue,

"It's easy for you to say 'it's gonna' be alright' you've got a plan! I've got nothing-"

"I'll take care of you when you age out-"

"No, John..." Lily shook her head and looked away from him, "I don't want your charity."

"Lil, you're living on charity right now. We both do-"

"Yeah, and I hate it. What makes you think I want anything from _you_? You're not responsible for me, John."

"Seriously, Lil? You're gonna' be like that?" John scowled and Lily held her chin in the air,

"I'm not being like anything. I don't need you. I can take care of myself."

She didn't look round at him. She didn't need to; she could feel the pain of what she'd said radiate from him and moved away from him. Bowing her head, she ignored him and bit down on her own emotion as John whispered;

"Fine. Have it your way, Lil..."

Sighing, Lily didn't speak to John again for the rest of that day and he made no move to try and instigate any conversation; hurt as he was by Lily's manner towards him.

* * *

"Lily! What the hell are you doing?!"

John demanded upon seeing her scaling the big gates which fed into the orphanage's yard. She craned her neck round and stared down on him from her position up on top of the gate and grinned brightly;

"Escaping. What does it look like?"

"Lil, man; you gotta' get down from there and get back in here-"

"John," Lily began as she landed on the other side of the gate nimbly.

A light snowfall was cascading from the night sky; John's anxiety was blazing out of his face from over the other side of the gate. He came closer and Lily hushed him with a shake of her head;

"I don't wanna' stay here...Besides, you'll be aging out soon so you can come see me when you get out."

"They'll find you, Lil. They always find you...Your hiding places are crap."

"Not this time they won't," She vowed staunchly and her grin broadened; she could barely contain her smugness.

"They can all look for as long as they like; they won't find me where I'm goin'."

"And where's that?" John asked one dark eyebrow quirked.

"Can't tell you, John." Lily shrugged, "Sorry, but you'll squeal. You always do...and it's not fair that you should lie for me." She reasoned as she shifted her weight in the cold.

"Damn, Lil!" John growled, "You saw the news. There are crazy people running around Gotham these days. Literally! Come on, come back inside..."

"Sorry, John...I can't."

Lily said quietly; there was a pause as she reached a hand through the freshly-painted bars and cupped John's face. She smiled her mischievous smile and chirped;

"I'll see you later."

She said mournfully and turned to leave. John began to panic then; he could raise an alarm, but then he thought about Lily's unbridled rage and sense of betrayal if he were to rat her out and he gripped the bars and pleaded in a fretful tone;

"Hey, no, wait! Lil..." His hand was outstretched towards her as she looked round at him.

"Don't go, eh? Stay here...Stay here with me and when I age out and then when you age out we can get somewhere. We'll take care of each other, just don't..." His voice died in his throat and he looked away.

"Just don't go out there by yourself."

He looked up to see tears glistening on Lily's cheeks. She wiped them restlessly and shook her head again for the final time at him that night and breathed;

"Sorry, John...I have to go."

She sobbed as she turned her back on him and ploughed on into the darkness of the street. John could only look on as his best friend wandered head-first into the cold and dangerous with absolutely no way to call her back, he rested his forehead up against the bars of the gate and released a shuddering breath. Why'd she always do this?

* * *

Banging.

Lily's eyes opened a crack. A scowl played on her face; what on earth was that banging sound? She gasped as dust and rubble began to fall from the ceiling. Her head snapped up to stare at the light bulb which was swinging softly above her head; what was going on? She scuttled to her feet, throwing the blankets aside as she did and threw herself over to the table where the gun which Bane had left behind was still lying. She gripped the weapon and trained the nozzle on the door; a gasp left her as she heard more bangs. Then silence.

Silence, a heavy quiet fell and Lily held her breath. A yelp of fright escaped her when suddenly she heard another bang, much louder than its predecessors; it shook the place and sounded more violent than the ones that woke her moments ago. There was a pause as Lily's dark eyes were riveted on the ceiling; the bangs were getting louder and they didn't sound like just generic bangs anymore; they began to sound like footsteps.

Lily struggled for breath; "Oh, God..."

Lunging forward, she flicked the light switch down, panting in the darkness she hid down by the side of the door; so that when it swung open she'd have the advantage on whoever was breaking in. The noise that resounded seemingly just outside her door made Lily cross herself and pray that they'd simply pass her by; she was terrified. The sound of men clamouring and yelling made her squeeze her eyes closed and pretend like a child that it wasn't really happening as she clutched the gun close and rocked back and forth; trying to ignore the screams of anarchy outside.

Time began to slow; Lily's eyes adjusted to the dark, but she still could not see anything. She was awoken sharply by the betraying creek of the door as it slowly opened; a crack of hard light grew longer and longer as the door became more and more ajar. Lily's breath hitched and she raised the gun and waited for the perpetrator to come inside. She didn't really want to have to kill anybody, but if Bane or Barsad had given any of the men upstairs express orders not to enter Bane's former quarters then she thought they'd follow their orders to the letter. If they weren't and they were being disobedient, Lily didn't much care for the punishment Bane'd reign down on them; Bane wasn't here. It was just her, and she had to rely on herself now.

Suddenly the man who'd entered the room stepped inside and over the threshold and Lily got a look at him, well, his back at any rate. She didn't make a sound; she waited to hear if he'd call out to her. He didn't. His neck swivelled furtively as though she was looking for something...or someone, Lily thought and grimaced as she had to take her eye off of him to check and see how to cock the gun. It was an intense few seconds; since Lily was neither trained nor a knack with guns she was at a total loss and managed to cock the weapon only barely. The betraying click made her visitor spin on his heel and draw his own weapon; his eyes were cold as they measured up Lily.

"Oho," He scoffed in the bright light or the open door.

Lily's scowl deepened as she eyed him from the cold floor, up the barrel his gun.

"Well, well...He got you locked up pretty tight down here in the master bedroom, huh?"

Lily frowned, not following him as he spat coldly; "Filthy little slut."

He pointed his gun at her and stepped closer; without hesitation Lily yelled,

"Stay back! I mean it, I-I'll shoot!"

"You'll 'shoot'? Please...You couldn't hit water with that peashooter if you _and_ it, fell outta' a boat!"

"Oh yeah?" Lily threatened and gripped the gun more tightly, "Try me."

"Oh, I will," The man promised as he moved towards her.

"Y'know, Jack and Clive were good friends of mine. Bane should have killed you instead of 'em when they brought him down the Commissioner."

With that, Lily shook her head and said,

"Listen, pal. That had nothing to do with me...Bane, he's-"

"Ah, don't give me your bullshit! Get up! Get up, you little skeez!"

"No!" Lily yelled back as he made a swipe for her. "No, get off me, no! Get back-!"

A bang erupted from her gun and she watched as the mercenary, worker, or vagrant – she wasn't sure – fell back with a mouthful of blood flowing down his chin. She screamed as warm blood splattered across her face and the pain from the recoil from the gun. She dropped the firearm and watched in the half-darkness; the man splutter and die. She shivered back into the corner; her eyes wide and bulging and watched as the pool of blood made its way over to her; a languid little river of crimson slowly running towards her.

Oh, God, what had she just done?


	17. A Sin Upon Yourself

**XVII.**

**A Sin Upon Yourself**

"Lily!"

John yelled her name in the cold night air. His brow set in a scowl as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and trudged on further into the cold. The storm was swelling; there'd be a whiteout soon, John had to find her before it fell. Squatting to his knees, he squinted underneath cars and blew out a heavy sigh when she was nowhere to be seen. He felt dwarfed in Gotham; an ant trapped in a snow globe. He'd never find her all by himself.

"Lily!"

"Hey!" Came a voice above his head. John peered up;

A dishevelled man was hanging out of his window; he had pyjamas on, half askew his shirt was buttoned up wrongly and his face was bright red with rage; "Keep it down, idiot!"

"Sorry, sir." John replied with a wave and the man shook his head and grumbled as he slammed his window shut.

A sharp and cold gust of wind stole John's breath as he rubbed his hands together and shivered in the chilly air. Casting his gaze back; he strode along for another block before he snatched a glimpse of his watch; it was eight thirty, Jesse at the orphanage would be angry if John was late in again. _Damn it, Lil_...

John scowled darkly in the middle of the road and turned back towards the alley which would cut through Old Town to the orphanage when he heard it. A pitiful little hiccup in the cold, dense air; he turned and felt a pain in his chest at the scene; she was curled up, head pressed against knees slumped up beside a frozen dumpster. John knew she'd heard him call her name and she was just hoping he'd walk on by and not notice her.

Like hell he was going to leave her here in the cold by herself. Even if she wanted him to. Slowly, like a hunter might approach a deer, John gingerly picked his way over to her. Not once did she peek up to stare at his inevitable approach. John frowned, cautious of Lily's fiery temper and dropped to his heels before her. They stayed like that for a while. Ten minutes, maybe more and John made not a move closer to her and she continued to bury her curly head in her knees. John could hear her breathing, slowly and calmly. Finally he heard a little sniffle and she tipped her head up and he could see she was weeping silently. He stayed where he was as she brushed a curl from her pale face and her eyebrows slanted upwards in an almost pained expression.

It pitied John's heart deeply to look upon her; almost unbearably so when she whispered, her voice choked,

"I thought I could get away...I _really_ thought I could-"

She stopped herself and let her head fall back against her knees. John looked on quietly as her slight shoulders jumped up and down as she began to sob quietly in her cold corner of Gotham. It was the only place she had for her own; John could understand, everything they had – as orphans – was not their own. All Lily wanted was a place of her own, but she'd be damned if she got it from somebody else. His breath plumed out between them as Lily glanced up again, her eyes red and dark and John smiled warmly at her and her attention was caught by his breath;

"You came to look for me?" She murmured with a small frown quirking her brows, "Oh, John..."

She whimpered and he shook his head and spread his arms open as if she had to ask. Lily's little face crumpled and she leaned into his warm embrace and she shed trembling tears into his chest. Petting her hair, John let her get out all of her sorrow; once her little racking sobs abated, he jerked her softly and looked down;

"Okay, so we gonna' get you back home?" He asked kindly – some would say patronisingly, but Lily nodded.

"Home..._'how often I've lay beneath the rain thinking it a strange home...'_"

John frowned down on her and queried, "What was that?"

He felt her shrug against him and sniffle delicately, her voice thick;

"Just something I heard once when I stayed in the underpasses."

"I'm sorry, Lil...You're gonna' be okay."

He gently pushed her away and looked at her, wiping her face, he shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her little body, he still had a sweater on underneath, so it was no great loss.

"'Kay, come on. Jesse will be annoyed if we're in late-"

"Oh, no!" Lily exclaimed, her head snapping up to stare at John frantically,

"Jesse's gonna' go mad...No, John I can't go back."

"He won't." John assured her with a shake of his head, "He's been real worried. We all have, you've been gone for three days...What have you been eating?"

Her eyes slid away and John could feel anger rising at her folly, but he pushed it back as he beheld her pale face, shadowed under the streetlight. For a girl of only fourteen years old, John thought Lily looked absolutely haunted. He crushed down his chagrin and pulled her in closer and rubbed her skinny arms and with a nod to himself, he hefted her to her feet and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You ready?" He asked shortly.

She nodded sullenly; her lips were pouted in the cold. Her nose pink with sniffling.

"Yeah, I'm ready...But...John, what am I gonna' do?"

She asked him completely askance and John felt his throat contract. He didn't answer her; for he truly had no answer to give her. John was brought back by Lily's dark searching eyes which roamed his face seeking resolve. With none forthcoming and with another quick shake of his head, John grinned warmly and motioned for her to come along.

Her question still unrequited, hung in the air between them as unpleasant as the cold as they walked silently back _home_.

* * *

The memories of the past paled and dimmed from the forefront of Lily's mind as the door swung open again. For the first time in what felt like weeks, months; that damnable door opened. She sat, squeezed behind the door until silence fell upon the sewers; all she had heard during her silent exile behind the door was rushing water and the odd scuttling of rats. The blood had dried on her head and face, but she could still feel big blobs that had almost clotted, still wet on her face and forehead. She shivered in disgust but made no move to wipe it; she didn't want to touch it. Her eyes hurt to behold the white line of light which yawned into existence with the opening of the door.

She sat unfazed as the perpetrator entered; it was so dark, Lily could see nothing. She trembled and shook; she had been too afraid to venture outside after what she had done. At first Lily couldn't take her eyes off of the corpse she now shared this room with; until, eventually, she had screamed a pained shriek and kicked closed the door; blotting any light from the room and the sight of her victim. Suddenly she heard rubber squeal in protest as it was hastily ran along the metallic floor; she stiffened but did not move.

The light engulfed her eyes, the pupils shrank; shying away from the hardness of the radiance, but she knew she was still perpetuated in shadow; deep shadow. She saw him; actually, she _witnessed_ him in all his power and size, all his authority as he scowled positively furiously in her direction. Lily knew Bane could not see her, ingrained as she was with the shadows; the muzzle of his gun trained on him. She wouldn't kill him, but she thought he had ample proof to believe she would if he got too close. She watched him as he stepped around the body of one of his men; his dark keen eyes still on her little swarm of shadows.

To her surprise, he knelt to her level and reached a hand into the black – almost as though he would retrieve her from the darkness. Lily dodged out of the way of his lumbering hand; her own breath betrayed her to him however and she saw him snatch his hand back a little, he looked bewildered for a moment before he seemed to grow very impatient with catching her. His temper flared silently and Lily yipped as he closed his hand around the muzzle of the gun and dragged her into the light. Lily felt tears spill from her eyes as he gazed upon her soiled face. His eyes were wide as he looked over her; he prized the firearm from her hand, but she would not let go and flopped back into the black shadows, taking his gun with her and she began to cry

"What have I done?" She asked quietly. Turning an eye on him, she shook her head in disbelief and her eyes hovered past him and fell on the man she had killed. "Oh, Mother, what did I _do_?"

What he did was subtle, but Lily thought it rather...sweet. He moved himself before the corpse, right in front of her so that she could not see him anymore and extended a huge paw to her and fluttered his fingers for the gun. Lily's eyes didn't leave his strange face as he motioned for the return of his weapon. She was about to relinquish it when she suddenly felt coldness seep through her skin, down through her body, freezing her blood and frosting her bones and she glared at the masked man, Bane, and snarled viciously;

"_You_...this is your fault!"

She barked and got to her feet quickly and slammed the door closed with a sharp bang, her other hand gripped the gun tightly. Bane was up too, his hands lazily half-raised; his face was utterly serene. Lily enjoyed the satisfying sound of the door banging closed; it mimicked her own impending outburst.

"You did this! This is your entire fault...if it weren't for you..."

Her rage stemmed, choking her as she pointed his own gun at him. Tears streamed down her face, mingling with the mercenary's blood, it flowed down to her lips and she could taste the vile pain-filled concoction and unleashed an infuriated, frustrated scream and threw the gun aside. It was fleeting but she saw Bane's eyes flash as the gun connected with the table over by the other side of the room and his surprise and then relief when it didn't go off and there wasn't a bullet ricocheting off of the walls. His surprise was short-lived as Lily saw him turn his blazing eyes back on her; for a moment she thought she might knuckle under, or cower. She did neither.

Instead, she threw back her head and gazed up at the bright light – aware as always, to Bane's inquisitive gaze. She ran a hand down her face, Bane watched silently as she pulled her hand back from her countenance and stare blandly at her blood-stained hand and chuckle mirthlessly, cynically;

"What a joke..." She breathed defeated and fell back against the wall and slid down it.

Bane followed her down, his brow cocked; his expression was so befuddled by her she thought as she turned her dark, shadowed eyes on him and tipped her head back. Closing her eyes she felt tears flood from her eyes; she wasn't even trying to cry anymore; tears were just falling whether she wanted them to or not. Eyes still closed, she shook her head and asked shortly of Bane;

"What did you do to me?"

No answer. Her eyes fluttered open and she could see his own were trailing the floor as if he were searching for an answer for her; his eyes flicked up and saw Lily's hallowed cheeks, prominent, jutting in this light; her darkened eyes which looked as though they were bruised and the blood that vandalised her pretty – albeit – sickly visage. She shrugged softly and asked again, even more mildly than before; a note of despair rang in her tone as Bane saw more tears plunge down those creamy cheeks.

"Oh...what did you do...?"

There was a pause and Lily closed her eyes and coughed into her sleeve. While she was doing that she didn't realise Bane's subtle encroachment; her eyes flashed but she didn't back away;

"**I salvaged you**."

He remarked simply and Lily scoffed, her eyes were closed again and she felt a tear slide out from under her closed eyelids and roll into her hair. She gasped as the sobs were becoming difficult to contain and flinched when she felt Bane take one of her tiny hands in one of his massive one's and watched him as he murmured quietly, almost comfortingly, Lily's hand felt safe in his grasp;

"**You are sad because you can count your dead on one hand. On one finger**."

Lily eyed the big man, feeling his calloused hand gently, delicately lift one of her fingers up. Her hand was up between them, covered in blood, ingrained with dirt; against his which was clean and hard with calluses. His eyes looked grieved and Lily almost felt ashamed for the way she had behaved, but she knew she was completely normal, but she didn't feel so with his eyes averting hers; his hand touching hers so intimately but his eyes shifted as though he couldn't bare to look at her. Maybe he couldn't...

"**When you can count them on both hands...both feet. And on all the hands and feet of those who follow you, loyally...to the end**," He stopped and Lily's breath caught as he looked at her; actually _looked_ at her while his hand brushed hers,

"**When you can count all your dead on that, then you may** **weep**."

Lily sniffed and pulled her hand away; Bane watched her gaze down at it and flex her fingers. Her blue skin was taut and he suddenly got up off his heels and Lily's eyes followed him up as he held out a warm hand to her and said gently, but not without a barb of rudeness;

"**If you're done, it's time for us to go outside**."

Wiping her face, Lily frowned at his hand; unwilling to take it should he break her wrist as punishment for holding him up but a moment ago; but peering up at him, she could see a sort of patients there for her in those eyes of his. _She moved him_...What did he mean by that? Lily knew not and knew she was making the journey from Winter into Spring by taking his warm, maddeningly delicate hand and allowing him to escort her up to the surface and the sunshine which she had bought so cheaply with her life,


	18. A White Flag

Yeesht. Longest chapter ever. Re-wrote & re-wrote until I was at least moderately happy with it. So, yea; please review, people! I live for them hehe. & thanks to those who have reviewed & those who've mailed. Total sweethearts, you guys.

:)

* * *

**XVIII.**

**A White Flag**

There was uproar. Lily's ragged breath hitched; pressed into Bane's side, Lily knew she was safe enough as he herded her through the massive throng of mercenaries. Hastily – while they walked – Bane wiped the blood from Lily's brow with the inside of his coat, Lily's eyes jerked up to look at him, his own eyes dark and piercing. He said nothing, only shoved Lily onwards towards their destination. When they finally stopped, Lily's legs ached. Her eyes scanned the ceiling and she realised quickly that they were standing in the middle of the complex where Bane had broken Batman's back, Lily breathed deeply as her face was illuminated by the white light from the rude hole in the ceiling. She was brought back when she felt a big hand press into the small of her back;

"**Keep moving. Those that are not nailed down may be swept away**..."

"Where did you go?" Lily panted as Bane ushered her onwards, down a narrow corridor.

"**Never mind**." He answered curtly and Lily frowned deeply but said no more.

"Bane,"

Said a voice at the end of the corridor. Lily's eyes narrowed as she saw Barsad standing rigidly at the end of the line, his automatic slung carelessly over his back. His eyes grew sharp as he noticed Lily, small and unobtrusive, pressed into Bane's flank. The sharpness died and Lily was confused when she saw him sigh as though he had forgotten her; he certainly did and she realised his folly. He had forgotten about her, barricaded up in Bane's quarters while he and some others choreographed Bane's operations here in Gotham while the masked man was off gallivanting God-knows-where. Barsad's pronounced nose's nostrils flared whence he had taken in the sight of Lily; she saw his eyes hover over the hastily-wiped and now smeared blood that vandalised her brow.

As they drew up closer, Bane nodded and threw Lily aside; not overly roughly, but rough enough so Lily's shoulder banged into the damp wall with a muffled thud. Barsad ignored her and turned his attention to his leader and Bane swaggered up easily;

"**Dr. Pavel?**" He enquired and Lily leaned closer while dragging herself from the wall to listen.

"He's secure. The police have already begun filing in. We have to make our way to Wayne Industries now."

Bane bobbed his head and tossed a thoughtful gaze back to Lily and she saw him raise an eyebrow. Imploring him with her eyes, she silently begged him not to leave her before he had taken her to the surface. His eyes remained on her for a long moment before he shrugged and turned back to Barsad and ruled with a wave of his hand,

"**Get everybody out; anybody left behind knows the penance and the forfeit if left behind.**"

He clapped Barsad on the shoulder stoically and Lily thought she saw Barsad tense at the big man's touch. His jaw clenched as Bane commented darkly.

"**Today, we emerge to bring about Gotham's reckoning**."

With a nod, Barsad turned and set off down the corridor to get on with Bane's orders. They were alone now, Lily couldn't hear a thing; her shoulder throbbed dully and she could see one of the bare light bulbs swinging lazily down the corridor casting shifts of light on them as they stood. Bane with his back to Lily, she thought he had forgotten about her until he turned slowly and appraised her for a minute; she thought he would speak but he didn't. He only watched her; it made her nervous, so she squared her shoulders and asked,

"What's the penance?" He looked at her more studied now and she added, "For your men? What's the forfeit?"

"**My men would die before anybody who I didn't want to know of our plans did. Even if it means they have to take it upon themselves to silence the leak**."

"You mean...they kill themselves? Commit suicide?"

Bane seemed amused with her words and he shrugged again,

"**You find that the common mercenary bets and barters with their own life quite precariously**."

At that, Lily eyed him hard and rose her chin a little,

"Do you?" She questioned and he fiddled with his coat before he turned and remarked,

"**Do I look like a **_**common**_** mercenary?**"

"No...No, you don't." She looked away before she said, "Why do you wear that mask?"

When she peeped back he was shifting his weight. He looked impatient to be off but he made no move to conduct Lily along as he had done before. Tilting back his head slightly, the light caught one of the metal tubes at his mouth and Lily felt a shudder run down her spine and she backed away a little.

"**But you are full of questions, Lily. I wear the mask to frighten my enemies; to make them fear not the man whom they battle; but the beast**."

Lily's blood ran cold at the edge in his voice and she quirked an eyebrow and said, "Really?"

She nearly choked on her own terror when Bane came over towards her; towering above her, his shoulders blotted away the light from the bare light bulb and he quipped snidely; his mechanical rasp sounding even more frightening in the dim light,

"**You'll find I don't lie about these things**," He began while grasping Lily's slender wrist making her wince,

"**The mask filters out such lies**."

* * *

Lily was run off her feet trying to keep up with Bane's incredibly brisk pace. They were nearing the tunnels which were close to the surface and she began to relax when she heard the pitter-patter of the many shoes that walked along the sidewalks of Gotham and she smiled faintly. She stopped immediately when Bane caught her doing so; his eyes were searching as he watched her a moment; an eyebrow raised grandly as he peered up to see what she was smiling about; when he saw nothing of regard, Lily felt foolish , and when he looked back at her and walked on ahead with no word for her. Dourly, Lily jogged along after him for another five minutes.

"**You will come with me**," He dictated as they came to an abrupt stop.

Lily stared up at him as they stood at a large industrial-looking door. She nodded vaguely, more interested in what was behind the door. Lily was brought back when he placed a hand on her shoulder; she nearly buckled under the weight of that alone and looked at him;

"**Today**..." He looked away; seemingly unable to speak the words and Lily leaned in, raising her eyebrows to prompt him. "**I want to prepare you for what you'll see**."

He said and there was a bang, loud and resounding from the way they had just came. Immediately Lily's head darted round to see what it was but Bane shook her impatiently for her attention and stated frankly;

"**Things will change from today. You must remember what I told you about **_**thinking**_**; don't make me foolish for saving you by getting yourself shot**."

His voice was stern and Lily nodded slowly; "Where should I go? Should I stay with you?"

Her question was barely above a whisper and she watched him avert his eyes and look down. Another bang from down the tunnel; Lily's neck nearly snapped with the restraint it took her not to throw her inquisitive gaze down there. Instead, she watched Bane rapt for his ruling. Her eyes widened slightly when he bent down to be eye-level with her and said;

"**I won't lie; today is a dangerous day. I am but one man, I can't guarantee your safety, but I've invested enough time in you. I won't let you die today. Like I said; I bought your life – I decide when it ends**."

"What if the authorities get a hold of me...Won't I have to off myself like all your other men?"

At that, Bane chuckled and shook his head before sobering;

"**You're not **_**that**_** important. And you're a citizen, not a mercenary. You're not of my militia, you're-**"

"Nothing." Lily ended for him acerbically, her voice cold. "I get it. You don't have to spell it out."

His eyes were flinty as he moved in closer and rasped quietly,

"**Oh, you have a role to play yet. Don't write yourself off so quickly**."

He assured her and Lily saw him reach out a hand and hold it between them. Her dark eyes were locked to his big hand as he examined it wistfully before his gaze flicked up and rested on Lily's face. When she realised he was looking at her, she gaped at him; calmly and without fear for a moment and Bane said almost forlornly,

"**You shouldn't look upon me with such trust**." He twitched his hand away from her.

"Why?" Lily murmured as he turned away snubbing her.

It was the last straw; Lily drew herself up and took a deep breath to steady herself and eyed his turned back confidently;

"Bane?" She demanded and the pertness in her tone ordered him to look back at her – which he did, with a certain darkness in his eyes. Lily's throat contracted but she stood her ground and tried not to tremble.

Lily had no idea she could be pert up until that moment, and she regretted it seeing the ire in Bane's eyes which made her shrink as he impinged on her, painfully aware to his closeness; Lily tried to melt into the wall away from Bane and his dangerous form; he growled.

"**Because, I have the potential to hurt you**."

Bane reminded her. Opening her dark eyes, Lily inhaled sharply; Bane was turned away from her, grasping the handle which opened the big metal door, he hoisted it ajar and jerked his head for her to precede him; which she did with tentative steps as she gingerly picked her away inside. She stood in the middle of the room and turned round to see Bane throwing the door shut just as another loud boom resonated behind it.

"**Follow me**." He commanded and swept past her, Lily complied and fell into a jog behind him.

They passed an army of men as they made their way up; Lily's mouth was hung open like a yokel as she beheld the sheer force of Bane's militia; it seemed that there was even more men down here than Lily had first thought. Of course, whatever Bane was planning was not a one-man job, but nevertheless; it was impressive...and terrifying. Every man they passed, she and Bane, there was a reverent nod to Bane and a strange sort of leer for her. Lily shivered and broadened her own gait to keep up with Bane; he looked down at her passively as she did this and said nothing. His steps stopped when they reached what Lily was very aware was a stretch of the Gotham subway and she frowned as she peered about; Bane looked at her and said,

"**What is it?**" His powerful fists were balled at his chest, pulling at his black cargo body warmer.

"This is Gotham Lower..."

She explained and bowed her head. Tears filled Lily's eyes but she quickly blinked them away and looked up at Bane. If he saw the tears in her eyes he didn't say and nothing in his foreign countenance would have told Lily otherwise so she allowed him to drop it and watched the mercs take point at each entrance and then form a parameter around the area. Bane led Lily towards a shallow flight of stairs which fed into Gotham's lower east side and she nearly wept to see the sun burning down; casting yellow hues on the world outside. She grinned broadly – not caring about the shadows under her eyes, nor the dirt and blood on her face.

* * *

Sitting inside the weird contraption Bane and his men had stolen from the Wayne armoury, Lily felt a little flutter in her chest; she was so scared, so petrified of what was going to happen today. Her eyes always returned to Bane seated in the front of the strange car-thing. He sat just like he stood; with a straight back, always needing something to rest his gigantean arms on; he sat with them folded highly on his chest, his dark eyes narrowed on the road as they drove through Gotham; ignoring the eyes which were set on them as they filed on past.

They pulled up outside of Wayne Industries; a platoon of Bane's force was already there. Lily watched from the confines of the car, Barsad wave a hand at Bane and acknowledged him with a curt nod before he returned to rallying his men and keeping the gawping masses back.

"Where are all the cops?" Lily murmured to herself.

Nobody answered her. She turned her attention to the two men in the front of the car and heard Bane say softly – well, as softly as his mask would permit.

"**Take her to the safe house. We'll be but an hour, meet us at the rendezvous point**."

"Sure, boss." The man replied and Bane nodded and started to get out of the car.

"No, wait." Lily called after him and gripped the back of his seat.

She saw him glance back at her mildly annoyed and she shirked inwardly. She had nothing to say, and with that let go of his seat and shook her head and uttered faintly,

"Sorry...It's nothing."

She leaned back in her seat and watched him get out of the vehicle smoothly, her mind racing. Lily observed him from the tinted window, Bane stroll up to Barsad and, his hands still pulling at the neck of his body warmer. Barsad said something inaudible and Bane nodded his response and led them inside the huge building and out of sight. Lily sighed as the car started up again and sped off down the road.

* * *

Lily gasped as the cold water splashed her face. She closed her eyes and allowed the droplets to ripple down her cheeks, her eyelids, her neck; she breathed in and felt warm tears mingle with the ice-cold water. There was a loud bang at the door and Lily turned; there was silence and she called,

"What is it?"

"Hurry it along, kid."

Came the reply and Lily nodded to herself in the mirror.

"Sure, won't be a minute." She said dourly and blinked at her own reflection.

Staring at herself, Lily felt sick; her skin was grey, sickly, her cheeks were positively hallowed. Her eyes were sunken, red-rimmed laced with purple eye-bags. Her hair was a matted mess of curls and she lamented that she couldn't wash the ugly mess of tangles. Lily stood small before the sink and mirror, eyeing her own countenance she took a breath and resolved to steady herself and calm down. Everything will be fine she told herself and grabbed the flimsy little cardigan the driver, Michael, had looked out for her.

She was dressed in some new clothes; battered combat trousers with a thin white tank top and a little peach-coloured cardigan to throw over her slight shoulders. She had discarded her ruined sneakers for a pair of boots which Michael had also found for her to wear. With one final look at herself, Lily nodded and left.

"Michael?" Lily began as they got back into the car.

"What?" He asked shortly;

He was a bald man, with a big nose and stubble all over his chin and cheeks. He was gruff and surely as far as Lily could make out, she kept her eyes on her hands as she said,

"What is it Bane is doing? What has he got planned for Gotham?"

The driver peered over at her from the other side of the car and scoffed,

"What, you really don't know?"

Lily shook her head.

"No...Nobody's told me anything. I don't even know what date it is, never mind what Bane's planning..."

"He's going to revolutionise Gotham."

Yes, but what does that mean? Lily snapped inside her own head and sighed.

"_Mayor Garcia?_"

Lily's eyes were drawn to the little screen before them, mounted on the dashboard; a little television screen and Lily saw the Mayor of Gotham, Anthony Garcia, turn back to the cameras and hold up his hands as though he would be taking absolutely no questions. Lily's brow furrowed and she waved a hand and said,

"Could you turn this up?"

Michael nodded and turned it up,

"Mayor Garcia?!" Vikki Vale, a reporter, hollered and questioned the dark-haired mayor,

"We're seeing thousands of police heading down into the sewers, Mr Mayor. Literally _thousands_-"

Lily's chest tightened; a police force. Then she recalled the banging in the sewers just before she and Bane had left through that big industrial-looking door and her heart sank.

"It's a _training exercise_, that's all." The Mayor nodded with finality and a smile and waved a hand,

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I have tickets to watch our boys thrash Rapid City – that'll be all."

Lily's eyes widened as she turned an eye on Michael and then her attention was drawn to what route they were taking; she could see thousands of people; all donned in yellow.

Jerseys.

"Where are we going?" Lily quibbled, her panic rising.

"To the big game, kid."

Michael responded with a callous grin that nearly made Lily retch.

* * *

Their arrival was surprisingly inconspicuous. Lily breathed a thankful sigh and dared to hope that Bane wouldn't be here. Her hope was in vain; he swaggered up to Lily and Michael brazenly enough; a foot and a half taller than the tallest man in his militia with his brown sheepskin trench coat thrown over his armoured vest. He was holding onto it languidly, his mask glinting and winking in the soft sunlight until he entered the long tube which led into the stadium.

"**You look much recovered**," He commented to Lily as he passed her.

Lily nodded and said nothing and saw Barsad trailing behind Bane; a man was in his grasp. He was a dowdy man with a flop sweat and trembling knees. His sallow skin was sleek and his greying hair clung desperately to his glistening forehead as Barsad threw him to the floor in an undignified fashion. Lily glowered at him for this treatment but all the same, said nothing and watched as Bane leant up against the wall.

They all listened from the shroud of the tunnel; a young boy sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. Lily's chest heaved up and down in her anxiety and she moseyed over to Barsad and hissed,

"What's going on? What are we doing here?!"

"I'm sorry that I forgot about you, souris."

He replied randomly and Lily shook her head and waved it away,

"I don't care about that right now. Who is he?" She said nodding at the man on the ground,

"Dr. Pavel. He just made a bomb that'll level Gotham in six seconds flat." He said in such a mild tone that Lily thought she had misheard him for a second. Realisation dawned on her like a wave of boiling water as Barsad leaned closer and whispered quietly,

"...You may want to look away soon, sourise-"

"**That's a lovely, lovely voice**."

Bane remarked of the boy's singing making Barsad and Lily turn to look at him. His eyes were dark as he eyed them both; Barsad shifted uncomfortably whilst Lily stepped forward and demanded,

"You...You can't be serious? You're not going to blow Gotham up!"

She yipped as Barsad dragged her back away from him and held her away. Lily wriggled in his grasp and shook her head staunchly,

"No, wait, Bane...Please!"

Disregarding her utterly, Bane held out a hand and Barsad nodded for one of his men to hand the big man a device. Lily battled against Barsad's strong arms and looked on despairingly as Bane exclaimed in a chipper voice,

"**Let the games begin!**"

"No!"

Lily screamed but her wails were drowned out by the magnitude of the explosion that erupted at the touch of Bane's finger. She fell to her knees, Barsad's body covering hers as the whole ground shook. Lily gaped up and beheld Bane's silhouette against the glare of the mouth of the tunnel's opening and she felt fear grip her belly like never before. She snarled and managed to throw off Barsad's arms as she fell forwards and watched horrified as the whole stadium's pitch was levelled, falling away like crumbling shortbread.

"Oh, God..." She breathed as she heard more and more blasts in the distance.

The screams were insatiable as Bane signalled for his men to disperse through the crowds of match-goers through a walkie. Lily felt Barsad get up and grip Dr. Pavel roughly by the scuff of his neck and drag him through the tunnel's opening. She watched dumbly, frozen by fear; all the mercenaries mill past her; she saw Bane's eyes stop on her and stare.

"You...sick, evil..."

She rasped through gritted teeth; shaken to her core at the vile thing he had just done.

"Why?! Why did you do that?!" She shrieked getting to her feet unsteadily and Bane shrugged languidly, infuriatingly indifferent to her rage,

"**All will become clear in time-**"

"No!" She barked, "You tell me now, you murderous bastard!"

Her outburst was quickly, rapidly stemmed when she felt a hand nail her to the wall. She gasped and spluttered as she felt Bane's iron grip around her throat; he remained perfectly still, waiting for her to stop struggling. When she eventually stopped wriggling, Lily realised that he barely had a hand around her neck, rather his thumb and forefinger hooked round her throat pinning her to the wall. Their eyes locked as she breathed heavily, tears brimming in her eyes;

It was deathly quiet between them; the air was heavy and thick with the atrocity he had just committed and Lily felt herself ready to heave at the madness of it all. She closed her eyes to his fury and he felt her soft delicate throat contract.

"**I raised you from nothing**."

Bane uttered in the darkness. Lily felt her breath shudder as she opened her eyes; they followed his free hand as it traced a scolding palm down the bare flesh of her arm – her cardigan dangled from it askew as ever. She closed her eyes again and swayed at his commanding and powerful touch.

"**Soon you will have to repay me**."

He stated calmly and leaned in,

"**You do not have to reveal yourself here and now. But know; once the people begin to identify you with me, you will become untouchable. I will never see harm come to you, Lily. Not while I revolutionise Gotham**."

She didn't even notice that his grip had slackened to a near caress, his hand rested intimately and affectionately on her throat and jaw. Her breath caught as she realised her feet were back on the solid ground too; her eyes found his again and she swallowed a lump;

"**Stay back here; the light is still a little too bright for you to bear**."

"Bane..." She managed but they were both distracted by Barsad who stood eyeing them both.

"**When the world begins it's turning...you'll find your **_**true**_** nature.**"

Without another look at her, he was gone. Following Barsad through the opening and out onto the pitch. Lily barely heard Bane's liberation speech, but rather turned her back to the light and sank down onto her bottom and rocked back and forth in the shadows of the tunnel. Her chest felt sore; tight with panic and adrenalin, Bane's hand print was still hot on her throat, and she grasped it and turned her head to one side. What did she feel for the man they called Bane? Lust? Fear? Disgust? Most definitely, for when she felt the hardness of his fingers graze her skin ever-so tenderly she felt overwhelmed by his sheer masculinity, of his assuredness.

All he had to do was command obedience and subjection from her and she would melt beneath his subtle and effective advances. Her breath caught once more; Goddamnit, if she wasn't already falling deeper and deeper into his darkness as it is.

Like the tiny, dark, inconsequential thing that she was, Lillian exhaled a sigh and slipped away from the scene of Bane's mass murder, his cool-almost-promise; the site where her sanity died; for she felt an attraction to the man who had just mutilated her own moral compass. Hating herself more and more with each wandering step, Lily sighed exhausted.

If Bane called upon the fierce, animalistic urge her body now-realising it wept for him; she resented her own form for its inability to even withstand that call. She hated her own mind moreover however because she wondered – against her own good judgement – when he would bode her.


	19. Ruptured & Bandaged With Care

**XIX.**

**Ruptured & Bandaged With Care**

_Faceless, I remain. The weight of my confused and broken sense clings to my shoulders, like cords are rooted between the blades; it is bloody, agonising; sweet, almost – like weight being applied to a sore tooth. Dragging me back, like a tiny statue someone would see torn down; further and further, it is choking me into submission. My thin legs snap at the knees, the pressure builds; as my sanity battles with the hungry shadow-wolfs; my slight brittle, grey and deprived body pays the price...Still it is not enough. It'll never be enough. The hum of the orange streetlights rudely pushes out any other noise; shadows have voices, I have heard a shadow speak; through the obstruction of metal; released into the frightened air like the dull drone of these streetlights, only, he strangles the light from above; his form blots out all which allows or helps me to see. I am becoming a blind __diminutive__ consort._

"**Tomorrow...You gain what is rightfully yours**."

Lily felt numb as she was bundled up by Barsad – who had resumed curling his nose at her, his momentary remorse for his forgetfulness of her, _forgotten_.

"Move." He shoved her on roughly.

Lily ignored his derision, her dark eyes wide as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened. What kind of day she had just experienced. She felt strange; like someone had reached out and battered at her chest with their fists with some amount of force...Only, it seemed as though she had been hit years ago, like the wound was only just beginning to throb, the pain only now dulling. The throb reignited suddenly like a drowning man's flare; and she gripped her chest and wheezed, still moving forward with Barsad at her heels.

"What's wrong?!" Barsad snapped, whipping her round. His voice was utterly _wound_ with tension.

She searched his hawkish face and felt her brows knit together; it was the first time in what felt like ages since she'd looked upon his features, his eyes were bloodshot; flinty and annoyed and his thin lips were pulled back in a snarl, on his head sweat glistened, glinting off of the veins which bulged. Impatiently he shook his head and didn't even wait for Lily's response before he pushed her away, his eyes unable to stomach the sight of her.

"Hey!" Lily barked, her temper spiking along with the pain in her chest. "What the hell is _you're_ problem?!"

He faltered and looked away, the mercenaries all strode by him purposefully ignoring Lily and himself as they stood against the current. Lily's eyes drifted past him and her breath caught; a huge contraption was being wheeled towards them. When Barsad returned his rueful gaze to her, he frowned and turned – following her own agape stare. Barsad turned round; Lily's eyes were on him;

"That's it isn't it? That's the bomb..."

"Sourise-" Barsad started, but he was cut off by a far more powerful voice.

"'**Bomb' is a crude word to describe the instrument of liberation**."

Lily looked up. Bane was standing at Barsad's side, overshadowing the smaller man; his hands were up at his chest, his fingers hooked over the neck of his armoured vest and his dark eyes on her;

"Bombs are bombs and terrorists are terrorists. It doesn't matter how you dress it up, Bane-"

"How dare you!" Barsad fumed, taking an imposing step towards her.

Lily backed up with a gasp, but faltered when Bane's arm went out to stop Barsad's approach. The mercenary didn't look away from Lily, his eyes were blazing at her gall, but he did not seem taken aback by Bane's intervention – more annoyed by it, actually.

"**You presume much**," Bane said stepping forward. Lily saw a ghost of a smile cross Barsad's face.

She'd get her just deserts now. Bane would humiliate her as she had seen him to before to somebody who had the audacity to presume with him. Lily's mouth went dry, but she kept her nerve and eyed him as though she were untouchable and not the fragile little husk she was in actuality. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, like he had done so before, but there was no warmth in the contact and Lily felt herself go weak with terror.

"**You presume much to think I won't break you for your outspokenness. You're here and alive now because **_**I **_**saw fit to pull you from the twisted wreck of your own frozen poverty.**"

He paused to eye her, letting his weirdly smooth words seep in. Bane leaned down and uttered dangerously,

"**Yet you speak to me as though I am in **_**your**_** debt**."

It was quick, so very quick. Lily had been witness to the nimbleness which Bane could embody however she had never had to feel it. Before she could even blink, she was thrown aside brutally, her cheek absolutely aflame after the strike which Bane had seen fit to give her. Her breath was barely a rasp, sinking to her knees as she pulled her roasting cheek from the cold wall, she gripped her face and glared up defiantly at Bane; standing over her dauntingly, commandingly and with not even a hint of sorrow in his eyes,

"**Go**," He commanded shortly of Barsad who left with a lingering look to them.

When he was gone, Lily watched as Bane knelt down to be eye-level with her and he said as he caressed the tender cheek making Lily flinch at his sudden launch from violent to amorous,

"**Before my men**..." His eyes flicked up to look at her face.

Lily thought she saw some regret glitter in his eyes before he blinked it away, ushering it off with the guilt she felt he should have been feeling for the terrible thing he had just done to her and the people of Gotham.

"...**You cannot speak to me so**."

She jerked her head away, his fingers carelessly hovering in the air between them now.

"Don't touch me." She spat spitefully, tears pricked her eyes at the sudden pain.

"**You're malevolence would be more welcome in the eyes of my men than your dependence, Lily**."

"I never asked you to save me!" She fired back passionately and he eyed her,

"**Oh, I know it; for you've shown me not one scrap of gratitude**."

"You never ask for any! In fact," She sneered with a faint smile, her cheek rosy pink;

"You object to it."

There was a pause as they looked at each other; Bane's brown eyes were intense as he glowered at the slight girl before him and he made no move to touch her again. Lily's chest ached; she could hear a wheeze scrape on her breath and Bane heard it too;

"**Everything I've done for you was to protect you**-"

"What, slapping me was for my _protection_?!"

"**To a degree**," He nodded.

"Oh, spare me."

The edge in her voice was grating him. Too much so it would seem; he lunged forward so fast it drew a small scream from Lily's lips, his usually-calm demeanour spiking into something more vicious and violent, Lily pushed herself back to keep herself out of reach of his rare, cold and deeply frightening temper.

"**I already **_**did**_." He growled darkly, his eyes shadowed.

Lily panted; Bane's mask was practically against her nose. The metal frozen and rude, she averted her eyes and peeped back fearfully and still Bane did not retreat, he looked at her as though he _would_ break her. Like she was something totally insignificant, but has riled him so much that he would enjoy destroying her in a fit of resentment; but then she saw him hesitate, as though he would regret it later and he drew back and looked away.

"**It would be such a waste of my time to kill you now**..." He said thoughtfully, his voice mellow again.

With that, Lily sat up; her chest was heaving up and down, her pulse erratic in her throat and wrists. Slowly he looked back at her, a ponderous look; like he was actually gauging her worth right then and there. Lily didn't look away, but she felt her ragged breath catch when he leaned in once more, his hand against the wall by her curly head. Their eyes were locked as he threatened severely,

"**But do **_**not**_** put it past me**."

She nodded, flinching only a touch when she felt his hand slide up her arm again for a second time that day; her head turned and she saw that he had adjusted her crooked cardigan without looking away from her. Lily shuddered and Bane saw this; getting up, he jerked his head at her,

"**Up**."

He commanded like she was his dog and like an under-fed, ill-treated dog who wishes to bite their owner Lily could only cower in the corner, hackles up and teeth bore in a snarl of utter umbrage; she did so, obeying him, she got up and stood before him. Lily watched curiously as he shrugged off his sheepskin coat and threw it over her head. The huge, amazingly warm garment swamped the tiny girl as she threaded her wire-thin arms through the too-big too-long sleeves. Bane appraised her for a second, arms folded and nodded.

"**Now, we go. Stay close; keep your face hidden if you must**."

He started off without another word and was stopped when Lily piped,

"Where are we going?"

Bane halted, his shoulders squared with irritation and she heard his irked sigh as he spun round quickly to say something; he stopped completely and Lily squirmed when his eyes roved over her. So tiny, embedded in his coat, she did not look so different from when he had first laid eyes on her, only now she was of more consequence. He sighed again, this time like he was more annoyed with himself than her and strode over easily and smoothly; there was commotion building behind him. Still the screams radiated from the football field, Lily gulped as he came closer.

"**Tomorrow is where the real work begins**," He said cryptically and Lily frowned,

"B-but, what are you...Y'know, I'm sick of asking that..." Lily sighed and shook her head.

To Bane's surprise, she smiled and threw back her head; and laughed. She chuckled at her own repetition, then at the fact that she was finding mirth before Bane and all his atrocities. He actually backed away. Peering at him, she cocked an eyebrow stoutly and demanded,

"Did I just..._unnerve_ you?"

He said nothing and Lily raised her other eyebrow and nodded mutely. He watched her as she strode on past him and said over her shoulder; his coat was so long on her that it practically drug along the ground in a train of brown suede and sheepskin cotton;

"Shall we go?" She said and he came up alongside her;

"**Remember, stay clo**-"

"_Close and keep my face hidden_...I heard you."

He huffed and stalked out ahead of her; Lily threw Bane's coat over her head and shuffled after him. The mercs were waiting for his arrival and some of them glared indiscreetly at Lily; most of their eyes held to Bane's coat which was slung over her head protecting her identity, she grimaced as she peeked out from under it and saw thousands of civilians all running about aimlessly, afraid out of their minds. With her wince, she felt pain rocket through her face; the pinkness of her cheek which she could feel was bruising by the second. She ignored the mercenaries and their glowers, she peered at Bane who in turn nodded at her and inclined his head towards Michael. The bald-headed merc strode over and looked at Bane,

"**Take her. We'll follow soon**."

He bobbed his head curtly and placed one of his gloved hands on the small of her back, ushering her through the gang of mercs till they were upon one of the stolen car-contraptions.

"Alright, get in-" He said crisply, but he was cut off by gunfire.

Fearfully, Lily turned and threw her eyes out to the direction of the noise; Bane's coat slipped slightly from her small frame, revealing her grey, sickly face. Michael hit the deck, pulling on Bane's coat to drag Lily down with him; he growled,

"Damn, we waited too freakin' long-"

"...Bravery here today as a man, wielding a shotgun attempts to shoot down some of the terrorists..."

Lily frowned and glanced up over the car and saw a camera crew and a news caster standing before the lens, shouting manically into a microphone. She gasped and turned to Michael,

"What do we do?!" She said and he frowned deeply,

"Get in the car."

She nodded and got up, forgetting to throw Bane's coat over her head; she made a grasp for the car's door handle and panicked when it remained shut.

"Michael! It won't open!"

"Yeah, gimme' a Goddamn minute, kid!"

He ran round the car and threw open the driver's seat; Lily waited impatiently, her knuckles as white as alabaster as she gripped the door handle,

"Hurry up!"

The gunfire was escalating; Lily suddenly shook herself and realised,

"Oh, crap...!" With that, she flung Bane's coat over her head just as Michael managed to open the door.

"Right, get in! We're outta' here _now_!"

Lily didn't wait to be told a second time, she got in and breathed a long and deep sigh of relief when she sat back. Michael wasted no time either and revved up the car, speeding off; they parted the crowds easily enough.


	20. While The Bat's Away

**XX.**

**While the Bat's Away...**

Night fell heavily on Gotham like velvet over a black spinel; completely engulfed in silence. Bane's militia set up perimeters around the city; the US Army had been grudgingly enlisted to guard and patrol the city's entrances to stop anybody from leaving the island alongside Bane's professional and vagrant mercenaries. All was quiet, eerily silent; the usually congested streets of Gotham bereft of life seemingly. A ghost town petrified by terror; just like before. What was it about Gotham that seemed to attract this sort of trouble? Lily knew not and frankly didn't care as she rubbed her eyes, blinking away clean hot water. She sighed indulgently as she smoothed back her wet hair; taking pleasure in the warmth of her shower.

Michael had driven her to a 'secure' location; it was a hotel. Fancy, four-star at least, with gleaming marble floors which Lily reckoned she could see her own reflection in, overrun by Bane's army, occupied and commandeered wantonly by the mercs, like black beetles invading a beautiful anthill. Lily had been astounded as she was led through the shiny revolving glass doors, two armoured sentries that guarded each side both nodded to Michael and Lily as they went on in; the plaza was enormous and almost reminiscent of their former home beneath the streets; at that thought Lily shivered; to think the closest thing to home she had ever known was the sewers was slightly disconcerting and depressing.

The plaza's main feature was a creamy marble fountain spouting noisily and irritatingly in the centre, dolphins and half-naked women wept and poured sparkling water all over one another; it was a captivating sight if one cared to admire it. Lily was not such a one and found it rather gaudy and ugly to be perfectly honest, so she ignored it and followed Michael's booming steps as he stalked through the plaza and into the reception which was filled with Bane's patrolling forces. A few nods here and there, Michael ploughed on down the well-lit corridors, throwing curt glances back every once in a while to check that Lily was still following him. He led her to an elevator and pushed the gold-plated buttons to the side of the thick metal doors. The journey up was as talkative as their journey to the hotel; not very. Lily shifted her weight and rubbed her neck, Bane's coat was scratchy and irritating to her skin but the heat it radiated was unparalleled so she refused to shed it.

When finally they reached what must have been the one hundredth floor, the elevator dinged and they stepped out. Lily gasped; all down the halls, mercs stood guard at every door with Pineapples and AK-47s strapped nonchalantly over their shoulders. All gruff, tough looking men. Lily felt nervous walking down the hall between them all, like fresh meat and she could feel their stares; their eyes filled with curio for her profile. Just who was this slip of a girl Bane insisted on carting around? She found herself pressing into Michael's back to shield herself from the mercenaries' inquisitive beady gawps but they all recognised the garment she had thrown about her shoulders, it was just as striking an article as its owner to be fair. After a tense walk down to the end of the corridor Michael stopped and asked one of the mercs, his voice was rough and coarse;

"Where's Bane?"

"Arkham." The mercenary replied shortly.

Lily's chest swelled with fright. Was Bane planning on unleashing the madmen at Arkham like before? Her eyes wide with fear, she wrung her hands and watched as Michael ran a gloved hand over his stubbly face,

"Gone to get that doctor, right? Okay, fine. When he gets back, tell him his girl's here. She's safe."

Lily's brow was set as he turned on his heel and without a word to her left and prowled back the way they had just came. Lily gave a sharp intake of breath and wheeled around quickly, glaring at the mercenary's retreating back. She was at a loss for words, she didn't want people thinking she was affiliated with Bane...but, realistically how could she deny it standing there buried in his overwhelmingly cosy coat? She sighed and consigned herself to whatever role it was she was playing now and turned to the merc whom Michael had left her with; he bobbed his head and said;

"This way,"

With a defeated sigh Lily trudged along after the merc. A fair-haired guy with a skinny neck; Lily eyed the man critically, absently measuring the wiry man against Bane and Barsad even. He did not look very much like a good merc, if his muscles were any indication. She brushed off her harsh criticisms and blew out a breath; she was just desperate to fall into a bed and sleep away this whole day. Tears nearly pricked her eyes when she knew that she would never..._could_ never forget this day. Bane had seen to that indefinitely. Finally they were upon a door, the skinny merc stood to the side and nodded for Lily to push open the whitewashed door; she sucked in a breath when she saw what lay within: cleanliness unmatched. She nearly gawped; the room was simply immaculate, open with so much space and airiness. Stepping inside, Lily turned back to the merc and noticed that he was waiting for her to dismiss him, she bit her lip; why did that fascinate her so? She shook it away inwardly and her face was unreadable, cold as she bore her chin slightly and with an aloof bob of her head jerked the merc away and watched blandly captivated as he closed the door with a quiet click and went off.

After he was gone, Lily pressed her cool fingers to her slightly burning cheek and hissed in a breath,

"_Bastard_..." She cursed under her breath while tearing off his coat bitterly.

Flinging the coat away from her it landed with a fluffed thud on a little couch that was wedged in between two lamps quite comfortably; she turned away and eyed the rest of the room, a large bed – newly changed and made up with perfection – the lights were twinkly glass droplet contraptions which Lily didn't really care for and she curled her nose at the fairy-light like things and cocked an eyebrow as she peered over to the large half shuttered window and took a few pattering steps over towards it and gazed out over Gotham's dimming skyline.

Stepping into a shower was the best thing Lily had done in weeks. She gasped indulgently as she smoothed her dark hair back. When she was done she wrapped her slight body in a fluffy white towel and bound her dripping hair in another smaller towel. As she was slipping from the bathroom through to the living area she realised that she didn't want to change back into dirty clothes and clicked her tongue in annoyance. She was so engrossed in her mundane trouble she didn't notice someone standing by the door which lead out into the mercenary-filled hall. Lily yelped in fright, clutching her chest and pulling the towel closer, she jumped back and tried to steady her breathing as Bane turned slightly at the sight of her.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked impertinent, her face reddening.

Bane was gazing casually down at something that was on the table, ignoring her pertness and glowing cheeks. Lily clutched her towel with one hand and balled a fist with the other and blew out a breath raging like a bull and turned her back to Bane, the towel on her head flounced about like an over animated night cap and unravelled itself from her hair and slopped to the floor, landing in a damp heap at her feet and unleashing Lily's mad frizzle of hair. With another hissed curse, Lily whipped round and snatched it from the ground and tried to twist it around her hair again but failing miserably, her hands shaking as they were under Bane's lazy scrutiny. She sighed and let her shoulders fall, leaning back on the lip of a small table, she folded her arms the towel dangling like a useless wet rag from her fingers and eyed Bane coldly.

"What do you want?" She asked him softly, the edge in her voice fading.

He turned an eye on her; she stiffened as they flicked down to her feet and then back up to her face. She shifted, ignoring his eyes and her mouth became a thin line as he shook his head slowly, his mask catching the soft light as he did so.

"**You look well**," He began.

"So you've said."

Lily snapped back quickly enough and his eye was on her again; this time it took in her stony expression, her folded arms and her rigid shoulders. Lily saw him square his before he said,

"**Well enough, your pertness is certainly returned. After the game you seemed a little...peaky**."

Her mouth fell open as she glared at him, and her arms fell away from her chest and she snarled unbelievingly,

"Is that supposed to be a joke?! You killed...hundreds-"

"**Thousands**." Bane corrected her with a nod and strode over.

With her butt against the table Lily had no wiggle room and gasped as he was upon her now, like a wild animal converges on a vulnerable doe.

"**And more shall follow. A shame, but necessary**."

"Sure, if that's what helps you sleep at night..." She trailed off and looked at him; his eyes were on her cheek.

"**Does that hurt**?" He asked quietly and Lily's eyes narrowed,

"No, of course not. Feels a million bucks." Her voice was choked with sarcasm making her sound bitter.

She looked away from him and pushed past him gently, her cheeks aflame with shame again. Shaking her head, she hastily wiped her eyes and with an agitated little scream, she threw her hand away from her face and hurled the wet towel to the floor and whirled round; slapping Bane's huge arm; she fumed,

"Why did you do that?! Why are you doing this?!"

Absently as though he were squatting a bothersome fly, Bane gripped her wrist and she abated her assault, her hand coming up to support the towel which was barely hanging off of her frame; his eyes were ablaze as he engulfed her matchstick wrist and glowered down on her enraged face,

"**You really don't know?**" He enquired calmly, making Lily gasp.

"_**You**_** of all people don't know. I am revolutionising Gotham, sticking the boot into the corrupt. Judging them as they judged you; the people, the deprived, the starved and frozen**."

"Oh, don't get holy, Bane...First you were _liberating_, now you're _revolutionising_. I don't buy it. You're just a common terrorist; who blew up a football stadium, killed thousands, destroyed homes and families and murdered a man live on TV to send a message...how is _that _liberation?"

He let go slightly and she yanked her hand back, the bruise on her cheek bloomed under her rage.

"You think you liberated me? Well you didn't...I didn't need revolution, or liberation...All some people need's a bit of kindness, not to be frightened and bullied by men with guns...You say you'll kill more?"

"**Undoubtedly**," He commented absently making Lily furious,

"Then I want nothing to do with you. I'm getting dressed and I'm leaving right now-"

"**Where will you go?**"

Anywhere...anywhere's better than here. The things you do and the way you do them...How can you be so damned casual about what you've done?"

Bane's eyes slid away and she watched as his hand flopped back and patted off of his thigh, he leaned back and eyed her, carefully, cautiously, like he hadn't really anticipated Lily asking him such a thing. Lily's eyes were fiery waiting for his response, her bare chest heaving above her hand that was gripping the towel tightly.

"**Casual?**" Bane repeated and he shrugged, "**I am the dread Gotham needs to pull itself free**."

He looked at her, bending his knees slightly to look into her eyes,

"**I hope you and your city can endure. Prevail. Your desire to survive moves me...Maybe – hopefully – your city will mirror your own struggle, Lily. If not, then it was a city undeserving of your compassion**."

"You're insane." Lily stated flatly, her nose centimetres from his mask.

"You hope we survive? What was the point of saving me if you were just gonna' blow us all up?"

Bane looked away again and Lily frowned,

"**You needed hope. I gave you some**." He said at last and Lily scoffed,

"No, I didn't need hope. I needed a friend, family, a home...not your misguided crap."

"**If that is how you feel**," He concurred and moved away slowly.

"**You can leave whenever you like, but remember what I told you**..."

Lily brow was cocked and she gulped down some fear; she could hear the chime of chilliness in his tone and didn't like it.

"**The world and Gotham are identifying its liberators and saviours – you made your bed. I said you could leave back in the sewers, you didn't have to stay. You'll live to appreciate it**."

"Oh will I?" Lily sneered, unable to look at him.

"**Yes**," He nodded. "**A link in a chain that can't be broken until I've fulfilled my mission. Until Gotham is saved**."

_A link in a chain._

Lily's eyes flashed dangerously as they darted over to Bane.

"What are you implying?" She snapped viciously,

"**You won't leave. Vagrants know which side their bread is buttered on. You live only on the cusp of my tolerance**."

With a ghost of a smile on that statement, Lily's eyes pierced Bane. Dark and enraged, she took in a breath and tried to calm herself and curb the urge which had built up in her to smack him right across his stupid face. Opening her eyes, Bane was still looking at her. With an impudent cock of her head, Lily countered,

"Well, the vagrant who had to do so little to get noticed by her saviour needs to be alone so would you kindly get out."

Marching over to the door, Lily stood by it and almost ushered the big man out. With a stiff nod, he followed her and stopped at the door; peering down on her, he shrugged his big shoulders and enquired – completely off-topic.

"**Do you need anything? Food? Clothes?**"

Lily gaped and shook her head, annoyance prominent on her face.

"What the hell? One minute you're pushing and shoving me out of the door, the next you're asking me if I need anything? Bane, I was set down in the sewers...what the hell do you want from me?!"

"**You were all set to **_**die**_**...People like you deserve to see a new age dawn too**,"

His fingers brushed along the pinkish blush which had crept into her cheeks and Lily backed away, turning her head.

"I don't understand you...Bane, why did you save me? Was it just to mess with me? I...I don't even care anymore."

"**At first**..." He faltered and Lily's eyes widened as she leaned in.

"'At first'?" Lily whispered, her head shaking.

"**Hope to me at first seemed to be all you needed...Then I had to fix you, learn about you. See what kind of person used to embody the husk you were**..."

"And?" Lily asked, his eyes met hers and he seemed to grow annoyed with her inquisition.

Unsettled again, Lily thought.

"**I found that I quite liked your company. You're different...Floating, grasping for anything to keep you from casting adrift. I thought I would extend my hand, help one more before...Before all of **_**this**_**.**"

"Help one more? So, you help people? Why are you doing this to Gotham? If you're good-"

"**Good?!**" Bane barked, he seemed amused and Lily stuttered,

"**You're interpretation of good is broad. You asked for Barsad to be spared my anger, throwing yourself down before it instead. I remember that because it is one of the best things I have ever seen someone do**."

Lily's brow quirked, a stray hair tickled her tender cheek. She ignored it and frowned deeply up at Bane,

"That's the best thing you've seen...? Hasn't anybody ever been nice to you? Shown you some...I don't know, love? Compassion? Kindness?"

"**No. For one such as me there is only fire. You ask why I can be so 'casual' towards my mission; to see you stick your neck out for Barsad after all his complaining of you was stirring to me. My liking for you is what's kept you alive**."

He said carefully, his hand was tracing her cheek again; his face, close to hers. Lily felt breathless and with no room to back away from him she felt herself squirm, animated by his touch.

"**Be** **kind to me. You won't regret being my ally in the coming months – that, I promise you**."

Bane promised, his fingers falling away and releasing Lily so she could breathe normally again. He straightened himself up and squared his shoulders again; looking back down, he gripped the door handle making Lily flinch. Her sudden recoil made him pause.

"**Do** **you need anything?**" He asked and Lily sighed,

"Yes...I need some clothes..." She breathed, her eyes averting his.

Without another word, he was gone leaving Lily to simmer alone in her spacious room.


	21. Craving You

_This was actually meant to be all chapter 20, but the thought of combining the two chapters as you see now - hurt my brain. Too many wooooords, far too many; so I just cut 'em in half. Poor Lily, she thinks Bane's driving her barmey. No wonder...those eyes are quite captivating *drool* Haha, I joke. I'm more of a Scarecrow kinda' girl._**  
**

* * *

_"No one even knows how hard life was  
I don't even think about it now because  
I've finally found you."_

* * *

**XXI.**

**Craving You.**

"_Gotham is in a state of emergency; city officials have either been captured at their homes or murdered by the masked terrorist sources are claiming is calling himself Bane. We will keep you updated on this dire incident as it develops..."_

"It will be wonderful working with you, Bane."

Lily's eyes roved over the sort-of-young doctor, Crane. His greasy dark hair was slicked back; his twitchy little nose was constantly playing host to his sliver spectacles which slipped down every two seconds; his fingers embedded in the groove between his eyebrows in a bid to keep them up. His eyes were glassy and the faintest of blues, his quirky mouth was pouting and petted, he looked soft, weak, a cowardly little man with a thin neck which poked out of his boxy suit at the top, his head sitting on it like a peanut. Lily didn't like him and eyed the sweaty palm which was extended to her. She felt Bane's eyes dig into her face and Barsad's knuckle embedding itself into the small of her back to prompt her to smile at the good doctor. Grasping his slick hand, Lily grimaced,

"Good to meet you, doctor."

"Charmed, and _you_ are?"

Her response was cut off by Bane who had been standing behind the doctor with his beefy arms folded over his chest; with an impressive clear of his throat, Bane unfolded his arms and strode around the trio of people and waved a hand, gracefully brushing Lily aside in her pretty outfit.

"**Nobody**," He said deliberately, throwing her a look which told her to keep silent.

Lily bobbed her head shortly and glanced at Barsad who was looking her up and down as though he would choke her. She ignored him and instead made a point of purposely brushing shoulders with him, watching silently alongside him as Bane led the doctor away, his big hand rested on Crane's nervous, quaking shoulder.

"I scrub up well, don't I?" Lily teased and Barsad scoffed, his rugged face cracking into a smile.

"Who found you that?" He asked, his brow furrowing at the preposterous get up.

She smiled faintly and touched the soft fabric which clung riskily to her thighs and shrugged softly,

"Found it in one of the chests in the hotel. Thought it was ironic, a good 'FU' to Bane."

Barsad's smile disappeared with the insult to his boss thrown in which only made Lily's mirth more genuine.

"You're the worst sort of people," Barsad spat. Lily gave him a sidelong look, her eyes dark;

"Well what can you expect; we're in league now are we not? Or are you going to run to Bane and tell him my outfit offends you?"

"I'd tell him your smirking face offends me," He countered and Lily chuckled mockingly and stepped forward,

"I don't think he'd agree with you." She said over her shoulder and ignored him as he strode up alongside her urgently,

"What are you getting at, souris? You know what's to happen today...right?"

"Yes."

Barsad's mouth was shut as she stopped abruptly and turned; she could see Michael behind Barsad hailing her; his expression was taxed as he seemed to be labouring with somebody on the other end of the phone. Lily nodded and turned her attention back to Barsad as Michael turned and began to wrangle again with whoever he was on the phone with.

"He's letting them out today. Everybody in Blackgate...he's going to begin his revolution."

"That doesn't bode well for you, why are you smiling? You know that some of those men in there are killers,"

"And?" Lily shrugged, "You and Bane are killers and look how cuddly you two are."

"Oho, you have no idea, kid. You think that just because Bane's got your back you can peacock around? You're in for a shock."

"How so?" Lily frowned and Barsad chuckled,

"When Bane and I unleash those dogs; there will be a chain of command."

Lily's eyes narrowed as she listened and Barsad minced his words, slowly and with silent glee;

"First they'll answer to Bane, then me," He looked over at the doctor, "_Then_ Crane. No one's gonna' answer to _you_. Nobody has a clue who you are."

Lily's dark eyes lost some of their assurance and she thought she saw a smile flicker over Barsad's face; she crushed down her annoyance with him and instead slathered on that plastic smile, drew up her scrawny shoulders and presented herself as untouchable. As Bane had told her to do and preened,

"Well then we'll see us about changing that, won't we? Dr. Crane!"

Lily revelled in Barsad's confusion as she strode past him without acknowledgement and extended a hand back out to Crane. Bane's eyes were sharp and flinty as he watched her approach, small, determined and pretty she grasped Crane's hand with such zealous and earnest eagerness, Bane had to look away;

"Actually, when you asked before who I was; I just thought you should know that my name's Lily and I am your new advisor."

Dr. Crane's fidgety eyes darted from Lily to Bane, from Bane to Barsad and then back to this girl, this woman who still had his limp hand in her grip.

"A-advisor?" He quibbled and Lily nodded with a smile.

"Yes. Who better than I to help you decide who is guilty of corruption? Somebody who lived underneath the heel of the decadent for so long would have a wealth of...experience to help you sift and make a decision."

She could feel sweat trickling down her back as she sang out her memorized words; words that sounded nothing like she had ever uttered before. They made her sick, she felt nauseous, disgusted but she was rest assured that she had to do this. She had to pull this off in front of Barsad, for her own safety as well as the poor bastards Bane was going to throw to this bony weasel in a suit. If Lily could save anybody, she'd need to integrate herself with these maniacs.

"Well, Lily? I will be happy to work with you as well..."

"Wait!" Barsad barked, breaking the handshake to Crane's barely concealed relief.

"**What is it, Barsad?**" Bane growled and the merc faltered,

"You...She is _nothing_! How can you allow this...this girl to be in on our plans?"

"**Which is exactly why I allocated her a task; you nagged that she was worse than useless down below, but maybe up here**..." His eyes trailed over Lily, stood there rigid with fear and anxiety in her good quality dress.

"**Maybe up here she can be of use to somebody. Somebody like me, which means she'll be useful to somebody like **_**you**_."

"Links in a chain." Lily said quietly and Bane dipped his head shortly,

"**Yes**."

There was a pause as they all stood there; the only one Lily thought truly had no idea what was going on was the poor doctor. He cleared his throat nervously and shuffled his feet before Bane said with finality,

"**So, we all understand each other. Good. Dr. Crane, please get acquainted with your new advisor. Barsad, come, we have a city to liberate**."

Lily looked on with narrowed eyes as Barsad's sharpened glare lingered, venomously with quiet hatred before he fell into a step behind Bane who left smoothly without a second glance to Lily like he always did. When they were gone, Lily turned and beamed brightly at Dr. Crane and held out a hand, indicating for him to follow her. The sickly feeling returned as she led him through the plaza, past mercs who all eyed her strangely; all wondering who this woman was and what her position was; where did she fit in to Bane's grandiose schemes of revolution and liberation? Even Lily didn't know that; she thought it would be fitting to know that Bane didn't either, memories of the night before flashed in her brain, before her eyes, vivid, poignant she could recollect them so perfectly in her own head it almost made her vomit.

Obviously the moment Bane had left her room, the first thing Lily did was grab a pillow and scream loudly into it; her wails muffled by the lushness of goose feathers. After that, she sat and waited. Bane came back no less than twenty minutes later holding a pile of folded clothes in his hand, Lily's eyes lingered on the little pile and she almost felt guilty for what she had done; it was strange to see Bane holding something so domestic, like watching a bear suddenly get up and start ironing clothes or pass you the phone; completely unnatural. His own eyes widened only slightly when he beheld Lily once he opened the door to her room; she thought she had made the big man more unsettled than even the Batman.

Sitting on the bed, back straight, dark hair a messy damp haze of black frizzled around her face. She had shed her towel and thrown Bane's huge coat over her bare shoulders, the whole garment swamped her, she was utterly covered but there was something about the _way_ it enclosed her, engulfed her; it almost drowned her delicate beauty beneath the heavy material and Lily watched carefully and saw Bane's gaze hang on. Her eyes were empty, like chips of ice as cold as her fingers which she wrung inside the sleeves, her teeth chattered. The hotel was only powered by emergency electricity – Bane's bombs had knocked out the main power, so no heating was on what so ever. After a tense moment, Lily's glassy eyes finally flicked over and fell on Bane; she would have been lying if she said there was no calculation in what she was doing, she wanted to know what he wanted. This was the only palpable thing she could think of which would give her an answer fast – this, or greet him totally naked and see how he reacted, but that was too rowdy for Lily to even contemplate.

There was an attraction, Lily wasn't overly versed in detecting when a man was interested but she wasn't completely bereft of knowledge. A man like Bane was strange...Everything about him screamed violence, danger and suffering but Lily found that she cleaved to him more than anybody else in the world, he'd ensured her safety, and given her everything that he said he would when she never asked for any of it. Although it wasn't much to look at, what he had given her was something more than physical, Lily thought that in his own strange, weird way; he was trying to give her a place, but as to why she still couldn't work out; her only indication as to what Bane's intentions were when it came to her was that he wanted to protect her, molly her; Lily didn't agree with that. She wasn't some pet to be caressed and then sent away, she wouldn't be his little play thing that the men identified as 'Bane's woman'.

"**You must be cold**." Bane said at last.

Lily's eyes glazed for a moment, peeping down she saw her legs poking out from under the hem of Bane's coat and she felt a chuckle gurgle at the back of her throat as she realised how petty and silly she looked. Glimpsing back up, she shrugged and let out a breathy laugh, shaking her head.

"I thought this would bother you..."

He moved further inside the room, closing the door with a well placed heel. They both ignored the token slam and Lily watched as Bane regarded her, guardedly, like a cat that's found something interesting but is too cautious to really approach; she observed dethatched as he prowled before her, ill at ease, unwilling to come any closer.

"Does it?" She asked lightly and Bane's gaze stabbed her.

"It can't be more surprising than when I first saw you."

She motioned with her hand, her fingers closed over her nose and mouth, her palm pressed against her face mimicking his mask and said subdued,

"Y'know, it's quite a shock the first time..."

He nodded,

"**You asked why I wear it**."

Lily shrugged and looked away,

"Barsad said it was your business. And I'm just a nobody...Nothing and why would you tell anything to _nothing_?"

"_**Why**_** without a doubt?**"

"I don't know...you tell me," Lily bartered, "Why d'you wear it really?"

His eyes were away from her again and he sat the clothes on a small table; wiping his hands together as he strode around the room, stalking in front of Lily. When his eyes found her again she was looking at him, her eyes big, innocent despite her risqué garb. He threw her a cautionary glance as if to tell her to keep her distance, Lily peered down at her hands and listened as he said,

"**You think you should know?**"

"Why do you always think that I think that I'm _entitled_ to know...You're striking, is it a crime to be curious?"

"**Anything's a crime in Gotham thanks to Harvey Dent**." He said, watching her.

Lily shrugged again,

"Nothing to do with me, or with your mask. Why do you wear it?"

"**Curiosity**," Bane said ponderously to himself, "**It's your one trait...You're inquisitive and you don't relent**..."

She remained quiet, her eyes following him as he backed up on his heels; his hands still swarmed in front of his chest, rubbing them together over and over again.

"**You really want to know?**" He asked, Lily felt her stomach flip in her curio. She nodded.

"**My past is short...I didn't start living until I was a man grown. All I've known before life and during is hostility. Take you for example, when did you stop living?**"

The question took her off guard and Lily frowned trying to follow his train of thought,

"Well...I discharged myself from hospital when I was sick only because it felt like that damned slip with my name on it was the only thing I had any say in...If I didn't want to be there then I didn't have to be."

Lily bit her lip at the recollection and her heart hurt at the thought of John's caring face.

"So I left. Because I could and that's that. I went outside and found an alleyway to fall asleep in and then...you."

He stopped and turned, looking at her closely; his hands stilled.

"**You're nobody...nothing special, yet...Like I said; something tells me I should be kind to you**."

"Yes, but what does that _mean_? And why do you wear that mask?"

She was practically demanding the information from him now; her hands balled into fists, buried in the sleeves of his coat; she shivered and tucked her legs underneath herself.

"**I've found in my life that bloodshed has to be met with a certain amount of pity. Saving you was something I could pour back into Gotham. You may not have seen it, but you're different**."

"I've _felt_ it..." Lily admitted, her head bowed, "I don't know what you're doing...I can't understand-"

"**It is not for you to understand just yet, what I'm doing, you're part – it will become clear soon**."

Lily's distress was so; she felt tears burning in her eyes as she shook her head and rubbed her eyes on the back of his coat's sleeves.

"This...all this," She tried to explain through sobs, "It's too much...I-I can't believe what you did...I can't believe I'm not more bothered about it! I feel like you've done something to me... bust me. Broken my Goddamn brain!"

When she opened her eyes she hiccupped and blinked back tears, Bane had hazarded a step closer, his distance was still a comfortable one for him; Lily on the other hand wanted nothing more than a warm hug from familiar arms. Her chest seemed to break in two when an image of John flashed and that just made the tears flow warmer and faster down her cheeks. Her face was stoic as the bitter tears plunged down her face,

"And you know you have...don't you? No one else down in that sewers got what I did..."

"**What was that exactly?**"

"Y'know, the whole; 'I'll not let anybody hurt you' routine. Straight after you said that, Bane, you slapped me off a wall! What am I supposed to think? I don't know what the hell's happening half the time."

To her surprise, her unbridled disbelief she saw a glitter of guilt gleam in his dark eyes and he looked away.

"**I didn't want to do that, Barsad's a shrewd man – I can't seem to be losing sight of our mission. You don't know, but you are the very opposite of everything we are trying to achieve**."

"Huh?" Lily scowled and Bane shook his head and came closer still,

Taking her hands in his; Lily gasped and leaned back as he knelt before the bed – it was eerily reminiscent of their first meeting. His eyes were almost earnest, his voice as usual was learned and thick erupting from behind the twisted mass of tubes and vents; Lily ignored the mask and focused on his eyes;

"**Your tears are meaningless here**." Lily blinked uncomprehending his gentleness as he wiped a tear away.

"**You're safe, tomorrow is important. I want you to sleep**."

"Why? Why do you want me to sleep?"

Lily's caution was repaid with an irritated sigh, but he humoured her.

"**There's somebody I want you to meet. You need to be fresh, I need you to be completely convincing tomorrow**."

His hand was still on her face, snugly and warmly; Lily nodded and sniffled, her own emotion draining her of energy. She unfolded her legs from under her and accidently bumped Bane's chest with her knee,

"Oh, sorry!"

She gasped and absently patted the place where she'd bumped, like he was John or someone like that...someone normal. His eyes when hers locked with his were perplexed, searching, utterly bewildered; so much so that it made Lily snatch her hand back as though it had been burned, like he had done to her before. Lily averted her eyes and pulled his coat in closer,

"Sorry..."

Her voice was a whisper of remorse as she tried to fold into herself and get away from him and his dark eyes.

"**Get some rest**," He said getting up. Lily, without any pretence gripped his forearm making him look at her,

"I feel like you're trying to drive me mad...Bane, what are you doing to me?"

His response was delayed; Lily gulped, vulnerable, naked save for his coat, her hair a curly mass of chaos around her face, one white shoulder peeking out from the confines of the warmth.

"**I'm saving you**." Was all he said, his hand cupped her face.

Lily felt her chest tighten, she was frozen there; unable to do anything. The intimacy too much for what it seemed they were but his coldness and her witlessness confirming what they indeed were to each other. Did he really view her as a ward? Someone he felt he needed to look after? No, Lily didn't think so.

So he left. Lily was alone, frozen to the bone; her tear-tracks left chilly bitter markings down her face.

"Uh, Lily, is it? Is everything alright?"

Lily's eyes widened a little as she realised that she was standing like a complete moron before the good doctor; she shook her head and smiled brightly.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Crane. Through here, please and we'll get you settled in and you can view the..._cases_."


	22. Revolution Is Duty

_Thanks for all the positive feedback on this fic! & to the folks who PM'd with questions, theories & plushhhiies haha. Please review, let me know what you think...I know that it's moving at a slow pace but as somebody once said to me on this very site; "Don't be afraid to draw out chapters. It's Fanfiction, we're dork enough to read it." _

_Wise words. Wise words, indeed. _

_Thanks, guys! _

* * *

**XXII.**

**Revolution Is Duty**

"So, what does your job entail as my 'advisor'?"

Crane asked carefully, one of his brows cocked. Lily grinned warmly and bit down her dislike towards him and swooped down into one of the deliciously plush seats, motioning with a hand for Crane to sit too. He did, his spindly legs bent up on the low seat; his smooth as glass eyes never left Lily. Sitting near him was like being trapped in a snake pit; Lily felt as though slippery tails, flicking tongues and beady eyes all converged on her; she shook herself and rolled her shoulders slightly;

"You seem nervous," The doctor remarked, one of his hands came up and he rested his chin on his knuckles.

"Not at all," Lily lied plastically, "No. As your advisor...I basically fetch and carry for you."

His expression remained bland and Lily's smile wavered,

"A glorified assistant, I'm afraid...but..." His curiosity tickled, he looked up slightly,

"Taking advice when it comes to dealing with some of these officials would be, uh...wise."

"Why _you_? Why not somebody else?" He wondered aloud, his eyes hovering over Lily suspiciously.

She took a breath and steadied herself. She had to be smart; if she wanted to help anybody then she would need to think. Plastering her most engaging smile along her pale lips which she'd hidden under a coat of lipstick, Lily eyed Crane as though he were the most charming, handsome man she had ever laid eyes on and preened only ever so slightly in her pretty dress and gave him a breathy laugh as though he had said something very witty.

"Well, why not me? Bane thought you would like an assistant. 'Advisor' is just the title Bane tagged on to make me sound indispensable to you."

He nodded, "And why should I take your advice?"

"I spent a lot of time down below; in the sewers with Bane and his militia. Down there I was known as somebody who had been wronged by the elite," Lily's pride was bruised as the words left her mouth.

She had never thought of herself as 'wronged' by anybody, not even her parents who had left her all alone. To sit before this worm and lie through her teeth made her ill, but she pushed it aside and nodded,

"Being an underclass citizen in Gotham can be very...trying. Having the opinion of an every woman would make you seem less biased, Dr. Crane. That's all."

"I see," Crane bobbed his head, "But this whole _fiasco_ is rather biased-"

"No, you're mistaken." Lily stopped him, ready to hurl.

"Bane is liberating Gotham. Saving the city from the clutches of the corrupt...You will preside over a court where Bane will have no power..." She hoped she didn't sound as deluded as she believed she did.

Crane's eyes narrowed and he smiled thinly.

"Well of course; Gotham shan't be a dictatorship, there will be justice for all who have been wronged."

"Yes..." Lily concurred, "That is all Bane wants to accomplish, but he doesn't want the people thinking you're sentences are based on wholly your own preconception...After you're incarceration."

The doctor's eyes were like snake eyes as they grew narrower; he appraised the girl before him. They became shadowed behind the spire of his fingers which he was pushing together making the tips go white. Lily watched him push his spectacles up and lean forward slightly, one leg cocked up and over his other; an ankle resting on a knee. He reminded Lily of a grasshopper or a stick insect.

"You seem taken with his ideals...How long have you worked for him?"

Lily's breath became short; the doctor's eyes were like icicles as he bored into her, discerning her angle.

"Not long, but rest assured; I will be a very discreet assistant."

"You're his eyes and ears in my court, then." He said with conviction and Lily gripped her knees.

"E-excuse me?" She stammered as Crane shrugged indifferently,

"Of course he'll be having somebody keeping an eye on me. I thought it would be one of these brutes," He waved a hand and made a disgusted face, "One of his troglodytes with more brawn than brains."

"Ah..." Lily breathed and the doctor smiled,

"I don't mind you keeping tabs, and I'll take your advice...which I presume would be Bane's advice masquerading as your own? In which case, what choice do I have?"

Lily's mouth dropped and then jerked back up while the doctor only smiled pleasantly at her, like he'd just asked her what the time was and was courteously waiting for her to tell him. She nodded dumbfounded and Crane's eyes took on a new brightness as this little puzzle had been resolved. He sat back with newborn authority which almost made Lily shrink, but she fought it and kept her composure.

"You're sharp," Was all she could say with a smile and he shrugged again, annoying her.

"Not a very good actress, I'm afraid, but I'm sure you'll serve as a adequate go-between." He said aloofly.

"How did you know?" Lily pondered and Crane's eyes danced as he smiled condescendingly,

"Well spoken but uneducated, your manner isn't professional. It would be obvious to anybody who had experience with corporate types, if I'm honest. Although you remind me of a certain brunette I once knew. She had your...manner."

His unveiled aloofness nearly made Lily get up and punch him right in that scrawny throat but she restrained herself and smiled prettily,

"Well, there's no getting past you, Dr. Crane."

"Please, Scarecrow will do for now." He said with a nod and Lily cocked an eyebrow,

"'Scarecrow'?" His eyes were unwavering until she shrugged and nodded, "Sure, okay, fine."

"So, now that we understand each other, what about these cases?" Crane said,

"Oh, yes; uh, give me a minute."

He watched without comment as Lily leaned over the side of her chair and retrieved a binder full of papers on the officials Bane hadn't killed on sight, or the ones that didn't put up a fight and were now being thrown into a makeshift prison yard outside City Hall. Lily felt dirty holding the binder and handed it over to Crane as quickly as possible, wiping her hands on her knees afterwards. Flicking through the papers, the doctor's eyes scanned them rapidly; he nodded briefly and sniffed,

"So Bane's trying the elite of Gotham...This'll be fun. It will undoubtedly put the fear in them."

Absently Lily nodded; her thoughts muddled. She was unsure if this was the doctor whom Michael had mentioned, the one Bane had retrieved from Arkham, and her curio was so that she eyed him carefully. Too hard for Dr. Crane's liking, his eyes pierced up at her from his musings over the files, he raised an eyebrow;

"Is there a problem?"

Lily's own eyes widened and she looked away,

"Oh, no...It's just...you don't seem very...uh, crazy."

"Ah," Crane nodded, "Looks can be deceiving. Your boss is a testament to that fact."

"Yes, Bane isn't what he appears-" Lily was cut off by Crane's dark chortle,

"Actually, I meant me. You're _my_ advisor now. We'd best keep up appearances."

Her reply was stemmed by footsteps thumping behind her; with a frown she abandoned Crane to his files which he returned to, ignorant to the commotion that was building in the plaza.

"Excuse me." Lily said and got up, leaving Crane alone with his binder.

Stepping out into the plaza, Lily recognised the thin merc from the night before and made her way through the throng of mercs who were all too absorbed with the television mounted on the wall to mind her intrusion. She shuffled up beside him and asked quietly,

"What's going on?"

"Bane's outside Blackgate, there's a news cast there – they're filming it _live_."

With that, Lily's own eyes were fixed on the television now too. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, thudding and hammering against her ribs so hard she could hear it pounding in her ears. Her breath died in her throat when she saw Bane, miniature on the screen; amble up onto the roof of one of his car-things. He looked imposing even from here; Lily licked her dry lips and made a face when she tasted lipstick.

* * *

The next five minutes changed everything. John eyed the Commissioner, who sat rigid on his couch, his hands balled up before his face, his eyes fixated on the television which flashed images of Bane's militia herding citizens, burning, breaking, fighting, wielding guns alongside newly-freed convicts and to John's disgust, bellhops, waiters and the general public all joining in. No rules, no consequences.

Bane's speech which had unravelled everything; Harvey Dent, Gotham's White Knight, their golden prince who died at the hands of a cold-blooded killer was the epitome of hypocrisy. A lie within a lie, concealed by seemingly good men; Commissioner Gordon was frozen.

"All those criminals who were locked up for eight years in Blackgate and denied parole under the Dent Act...That was based on a _lie_?"

He said quietly, his tone more mild than he had meant it to be. Commissioner Gordon unclasped his hands and shrugged so softly, his head shaking slowly from side to side; like a man trapped between a rock and a hard place,

"Gotham _needed_ a hero..." He explained with quiet despair.

"Yeah, well it needs it now more than ever." John replied with the same quiet tone,

"And you betrayed everything you stood for." He accused his brow furrowing.

Commissioner Gordon turned quickly, his eyes fiery; but his testiness died almost immediately, replaced by the weight of his own guilt again as he couldn't deny it. He shrugged once more, peering up at John;

"That's the _point_." He said with a nod.

John felt his temper rising.

"The rules aren't weapons anymore, they're...shackles." The Commissioner said calmly almost to himself,

"Letting the bad guy get ahead...One day," He added with a saddened expression, "_You_ might face such a moment of crisis."

Suddenly his own anger flared and he hissed with unyielding fury,

"And in that moment I hope you had a friend like I did!"

John stepped back in the face of the normally soft-spoken Commissioner's anger,

"To plunge their hands into the _filth_! So that you can keep yours clean!"

With a shake of his head, John felt some light die inside of him. For his entire career as a police officer he had always held an unshakable loyalty and admiration for Commissioner James Gordon, he had looked up to this man, this broken man in recent years and now he knew what was crushing him. A lie which was wasting this once brilliant man's soul; seeing the Commissioner's betrayal of his own ideals laid bare before him and the husk of a battered old veteran nearly made John weep, but even he could not see why the Commissioner would cover up such a lie.

"Your hands look plenty filthy to me, Commissioner."

* * *

"**Step forward, those who would serve!**"

Bane bellowed; making Lily's hair stand up on end. The mercs around her were all nodding and jeering at the television, waving their guns in approval of their warlord; Lily found herself stepping back, frightened by the chaos erupting around her as the men became more and more rowdy in their empowerment listening to Bane's metallic voice blast through the room.

"**For an army will be raised! The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure! Courts will be convened**..."

Lily's little eek of fright was drowned out by the mercs' shouting as she felt a hand grip hers, turning; her eyes locked with Dr. Crane's.

"Let's get out of here," He suggested in his nondescript way, his eyes darting around furtively;

"It's getting a little bit raucous for the likes of us."

Lily nodded, her ears pricked for the sound of Bane's powerful voice,

"**Spoils will be enjoyed!**" He shouted over the din of the plaza.

"**Blood will be shed! The police shall survive as they learn to serve **_**true**_** justice!**"

Gripping Crane's slick hand, Lily was roughly pulled from the crowd by Crane unceremoniously. Her head was swimming; what did Bane mean by the police serving true justice? Was John buried beneath the city like she had been? Was he alright? She prayed that he was, she truly did hope he was safe.

"**This great city**," Bane said with authority which made Lily stop to look back at the television. "**It **_**will**_** endure**."

Just before she was hauled from the room by this surprisingly strong, stalk-like man she heard Bane say with finality.

"_**Gotham will survive**_."

Thrown inside her room, Crane slammed the door and ran a hand through his hair; the binder of officials under one arm. Lily's breath was uneven and she could feel a rattle on it. Clearing her throat, she sniffed and cursed herself for getting mixed up in this...this madness. What Bane was doing was way beyond anything she had ever thought possible, she thought that maybe he was after something else, money, and technology – whatever. Not total domination of her city, her home. She shivered at the thought of Bane standing atop that car-thing and felt a retch coming on at the fear which gripped her belly.

"'None shall interfere, do as you please', Bane knows how to rile a city."

Crane said appraisingly making Lily look at him.

"He's..." Lily was at a loss for words, "They'll go mad...everyone will just go nuts!"

"No," Crane shook his head and wiped his glasses on the hem of his suit jacket.

"Gotham is a city of apathy; the general populace will just bob along as they always have. The prisoners from Blackgate, though...Those men and women will be out for revenge – the ones who were wrongly imprisoned."

He said with a nod, "The more violent ones will just be along for the ride."

"Gotham will be a city of killers and opportunists by the end."

Crane said finally and popped his spectacles back on with a jaunty flick of his wrist.

"They'll be our new peers" He remarked eyeing Lily hard, "So we should make a point of befriending them."

"'We'?" Lily said and he nodded,

"Well, yes. You are my advisor and as mine and Bane's middle man, you won't go unnoticed. You'll have an opinion and some people may hate you for it. This is a lucky time to be alive, but it is also a very delicate climate."

Lily's eyes narrowed as Crane came closer, a sadistic smile played on his gaunt face,

"Criminals, I've learned from experience can be quite fickle. My advice to you would be this: stay close to Bane. Once you start influencing sentences your power will be envied."

"I don't know what you mean?" Lily said stupidly, her head spinning.

"It's curious the precarious position Bane put you in...Considering."

Lily frowned and Crane chuckled at her witlessness and shook his head,

"Of course I did my homework on you. Bane may have only freed me last night but I spoke with a few of his mercenaries; they all told me different little yarns about you, Lily."

"Yarns'?"

"Bane's lover was prominent among them, but judging from your fear and genuine distress at his actions I'd say that's unlikely. But the thing they expressed the most was his unwillingness to be rid of you, makes me wonder what he plans on doing with you. It should be interesting...But like I said, you should exercise caution."

"Thanks for the advice." Lily murmured cagily and Crane smiled bitterly,

"My pleasure, I expect you to do the same."

"It looks like I've made a friend then..." Lily commented and he peered down at her with his faint eyes,

"Indeed."

* * *

Flinging clothes and supplies into a duffel bag, John muttered under his breath as the Commissioner still sat glued to the screen of the TV. He had barely moved a muscle and John was finding his stoicism unsettling. He was about to ask the Commissioner where he thought they should go to lie low when something on the television caught his eye. His hands stilled and his chest positively tightened with anxiety, relief and a good deal of disbelief. The Commissioner turned and frowned up at him,

"What's the matter, son?"

"Shh!" John snapped and vaulted over the back of the couch and leaned into the TV, his eyes squinting.

"No..."

"_Footage taken yesterday outside the Gotham football stadium, shows a man attempting to defend his city from terrorists by wielding a shotgun, the man, Harry Gains, was gunned down at point blank range by one of the mercenaries.._."

In the left corner of his TV, John nearly choked; it was _her_. Lily was hiding behind one of the armoured vehicles Bane's mercenaries used. Over her shoulders was strewn a coat he had only seen around the shoulders of one other person in Gotham; Bane. His heart soared to see her alive and safe, but his levity came crashing back down to the ground at a nose dive when he saw her get in the vehicle and speed away.

"Oh, Lil...what the hell have you gotten yourself into?"


	23. Almost Human

**XXIII.**

**Almost Human**

_I can feel myself slipping, like falling down a drain; the slim clings to me no matter how far I fall. The grime of judgement, of false justice entice and smoulder before my eyes; power unmatched almost burns my fingers which I keep planted down by my sides in a weak effort to keep myself from reaching out with my azure digits and take all for myself. As hunger grows, another lurks deep in my heart...One of heat, animalistic in its disposition – I hate it. But who can complain of a person's very nature? Not I; the one who covets his strength._

Three weeks after Bane's liberation's kick-off and Lily had found herself willingly trapped in a routine; to her own disgust she felt a cowardly sense of self-preservation, she knew she wasn't quite untouchable but knowing that no one was putting her on trial, hunting her through the streets of Gotham or shooting her on sight was honestly the only thing that set her muddled mind to ease. She and Crane had set up an efficient way to work through the corrupt who would be judged by the good doctor; sentencing hearings.

Crane ruled that they would operate as a sort of kangaroo court, no witnesses would be called and no evidence would be put forth; it was all in mockery of justice, Lily thought, but couldn't deny that some of the slimy corporate bastards they lined up to escort to the Drop were not undeserving of their sentence; their pale, sweating faces blanched always at the boom of the Scarecrow's gravel while she stood to the side of Crane, unspeaking with a folder full of doomed names which she'd read out when Crane was done with his current culprit.

"Stryver," Lily whispered to Crane when he smacked the gravel down for the tenth time that day.

"Hmm?" He queried,

Lily moved closer, aware of the eyes which bored onto her throughout the room; all down the lists were men jeering, gutter rats, mercs, Bane's militia who were off-duty killing time by watching Scarecrow's show and far off at the back watching, always watching passively without comment or exercise of his power: Bane. Lily cleared her throat as quietly as she dared and leaned in closer to Crane, her nose twitching due to the hay that peeked out of one of his suit jacket's shoulders. The doctor turned slightly, a ghost of a smile on his tight lips;

"Another one for judgement? My, we have had a full day."

Lily nodded, "Uh, yeah. The next one's Phillip Stryver."

"Bring him in then,"

"**Hold on**."

The voice which resonated caught Crane and Lily's attention; Lily looked back and shirked, moving away sneakily, Bane shook his head and crooked a finger at her and she sloped over to him, away from Crane.

"How did you even get over here?" She demanded irritably.

"**I want Stryver pinned in the coop for longer, to fully exact his punishment. Skip him**."

"What?!" Lily hissed, "You were the one who said you wouldn't have any input-"

"**Yes**." He said quietly, "**This will be **_**your **_**own input remember. Now, go**."

Moving away from the shadows and Bane, Lily felt the brush of his coat as he departed as silently as he appeared and milled over to Crane.

"Well?" He asked shortly, ignoring the rowdy crowd baying for more judgement.

"Bane says we've to skip Stryver and keep him in the pen a little longer,"

She shrugged, "I don't know why. The next name after Stryver's is Collins, William Collins."

Lily had to really frown down on the lists of partially-memorised names and hope she was reading them right, her grasp of reading only now being dusted off after being forgotten for so long. She actually enjoyed it...when she didn't get stuck - because then she felt like a complete simpleton. In actuality, the way Scarecrow or Bane looked at her sometimes she most definitely believed she was.

"Very well," Crane said and motioned with his gravel to Lily, "Call him in."

A shudder ran down Lily's spine as she nodded blandly and stepped forward. She had lost count of the many men and women's names she had barked out up here for them to be dragged in and thrown down before these animals and then to be judged by Crane, the spindly scarecrow; her voice was the herald which told the many imprisoned privileged elite that their waiting, cowering and praying was over.

Now was the hour of their judgement and they would all be denied.

"William Collins!"

She boomed and the crowd came alive, hollering, jeering and threatening as an old man was harried in by two mercs who had gripped both of his arms. The old man, William Collins, stopped and held his head up; waving off the mercs dignified in the face of this travesty court and Lily felt her throat close as the man strode over to the chair before Crane, surprisingly spry for his age and swooped down on the lonely seat that was flanked by raving maniacs and before a neurotic sociopath. Lily actually pitied this man and frowned deeply when Crane couldn't silence the mob on each side of the old man.

Snatching the gravel from Crane's hand, Lily slammed it down hard and bellowed;

"SHUT IT!"

There was a falter in the din and Lily cleared her throat before daintily passing Crane the gravel back. The doctor took it with a twitchy nod; a look of sheer confusion covered his features. With a short nod in return, Lily stepped back and cast her brown eyes out over the room of crazies and felt she was the only sane one in the sprawling chamber, then her eyes fell on Bane; he was standing, lent up against a pillar fiddling with something in his hands, his presence both obvious and subtle at the same time. He didn't have the look of these frenzied idiots who all raised their fists and screamed out threats and profanities; he looked calm, serene almost. That's when Lily realised she wasn't the only sane person in the room; Bane was too and that only made him more dangerous in her opinion.

The trial resumed; Crane smashed the gravel down and declared,

"William Collins, you are accused of living off of the impoverished, standing on the shoulders of the small while you squandered thousands – if not, millions – on frivolous endeavours-"

"With my own money! Which I earned-"

"Wealth is not _earned_ in Gotham, sir." Crane offered sternly, "It is _stolen_. You would know all about that I'm sure."

Lily felt her hands begin to shake as poor William Collins faced the inevitable as the Scarecrow decreed,

"Now; death or exile?"

There was uproar, commotion unprecedented which made Lily's ears burn. She did her best to ignore the drone of the many voices overlapping in a bid to shout the wealthy man into exile and she watched carefully for William's answer to Crane's impossible question.

"Son, I would rather _die_ than have you moderate me."

"Well then, death it is!" He smacked the gravel down and shuffled some papers;

"Take Mr. Collins to the Drop!"

A roar of applause as the old man is hauled from his seat and dragged back out into the yard, still he held his head high, and Lily looked away; choosing not to see. As the noise died, Crane turned to Lily and said,

"What a day; you must be exhausted."

Pale and sullen, Lily nodded. Her nose reddening with emotion;

"He doesn't deserve to die..." She whispered forlornly and Crane's reply was cut off.

"**They all deserve their punishment. You are among the few worthy of sparing**."

Bane swaggered up lazily, his hands occupied as usual with a piece of string he kept twisting around his fingers. Crane unceremoniously packed up his things and slinked away leaving Lily and Bane alone on the altar of documents and files, it was all useless – who was looking for any documentation in this courthouse?

"How can you say that?" Lily snapped, looking away. "You don't have the right..."

"**Oh? Don't I? It was I who raised you from nothing, Lily. I determine your worth**."

"Lucky me." Lily sneered as she tried to sidle past the big man.

"**Where are you going?**" Bane asked conversationally.

"Ho- I mean back to the hotel."

"**Ah, won't you go to the Drop. Witness your handiwork?**"

"_My_ handiwork?!" She shrieked utterly appalled, throwing herself away from him.

"It's your handiwork! Yours and Barsad's! I'm just a bystander-"

"**Really?**"

Bane demanded, his hand slamming against the wall behind Lily who yelped in fright as he closed in on her darkly. Her whole body frozen; she gulped and looked up at Bane who snarled through his mask;

"**You're not a bystander – you never have been. Occasion upon occasion to leave, yet you **_**didn't**_."

"What exactly are you getting at?" Lily demanded through clenched teeth,

"**What do you feel, Lily?**"

The question perplexed her. Lily gaped a moment before her brow furrowed,

"What do I feel? Well, I'm annoyed – for a start-"

"**No**." Bane stipulated with a shake of his head, his annoyance with her prominent in his tone.

"**You float along hoping for salvation, liberation; I've given you the only measure of that which I could...Yet you take it without comment, without sentiment...What else can I give you?**"

Lily bit her lip at his words, unable to understand what he was asking of her. With a shrug, she said;

"Bane...What is that you want? Gratitude? Appreciation? Everything anybody's ever done for me, they've done it as you have – controlling my every action without my say. Do you want me to smile and say that I wanted you to lift me off the streets? I can if you wish for me to, but who says I desire anything in the first place?"

"**I would see you happy...Fixed...**" He groped for words, his eyes averting hers.

"If you want my honesty, then you only need to ask..." Lily said firmly, and his eyes darted to her face.

"**Speak then**." He growled irritably making Lily shirk before he softened. "**Tell me**," He said in a more mellow tone.

"I will always be grateful to you for saving my life...You've given me so much. Before you came along, I...I couldn't feel anything but what you're doing isn't right. It doesn't seem fair of you to save me and hurt so many others. I say I never asked for any of this, but the truth is; all this,"

She said motioning behind him,

"All this intrigues me and terrifies me at the same time. You included. All I wanted before was a place to lie down and...Well, y'know? It was horrible, having no control; but I don't want _this_ control you've given me."

Lily peeped up at him and his eyes were utterly trained on her, drinking her in seemingly, his head half-cocked, hanging on her every word Bane seemed to be trying to discern her meaning. She felt like an alien before him and sighed.

"Bane, I feel like you're trying to corrupt me. Why else would you have me at Crane's side every day?"

His response was quiet, thoughtful as though he had spent a while thinking about it. Taking one of Lily's cold hands in his warm paw, he looked down at her slightly blue fingers, turning her hand palm up he saw that the pink flesh was beginning to heal;

"**I would never try to corrupt you. That wasn't my intent. To save your life, I need to make it seem that you are indispensible...To Barsad at any rate. The other men are foolish at best, fecund at worst – they do not care very much overly what you are, your role, what you are to me**."

"What's so important about Barsad? Why does he hate me so much?"

Bane sighed and hefted his gigantean shoulders and slowly peered over her,

"**Barsad is a man from another time, a talented one at that, he has seen the worst of corruption; his family were like you when I found you; complacent with their misery**."

Lily scowled, listening intently, enthralled by Bane's mild tone;

"**He is against tyranny to such a level that even the population's complacency and lack of apathy with their poverty infuriate him, I couldn't afford the hostility of my second-in-command to keep you around, but neither was I willing to part with you**."

"Seems like a lot of trouble for-"

"**Just you?**" Bane cut in and shrugged, "**I know. Your curio and persistence to know me and my motives amuses me, like a child pestering their elders for answers. I know I brought you on myself when I took you in...**"

Indignation nearly choked Lily; forgoing the intimacy, Lily realised just how close they had gotten over the last couple of moments and yanked back her hand. A dark glare blazed from her eyes as she barged past Bane. Her sudden hostility provoked him almost instinctively and he grabbed her arm and threw her back roughly against the wall. Her grunt was muffled as he glowered down on her; the peacefulness of their talk before completely shattered replaced by animosity which radiated from Lily,

"Get off me!" She screamed and beat her hands off of his arm feebly.

"**What's the meaning of this?!**" He demanded while Lily regained her breath.

"You brought me on yourself? Bane, I'm not some kind of pet that you decided to rescue one day!"

Annoyance gripped her as she realised that that was _exactly_ what she was like. The realisation only sought to frustrate her even more and she let out a shrill little scream before banging her fists off Bane again.

"Get off me! Leave me alone!"

His grip only tightened as his fury grew, which in turn made Lily shriek even more, his other hand pinned her wrist to the wall and his knee rose up into the fork in her legs, taking her off of the ground and effectively trapping her and rendering an escape impossible. Her face flushed with stolen lust, she gnashed her teeth and hissed dangerously,

"Let me down, you...you brute!"

"**Why? You squawk so much you'd be better suited to sit on Scarecrow's shoulder**."

"Great, so now I'm a crow as well as a pet."

Bane's eyes crinkled at the side and she thought he may have been smiling; she found his amusement infuriating and thrashed her legs and free hand around like a mad woman.

"Boss?" A voice came from behind Bane.

Suddenly Lily dropped to the floor with a jarring thud that made her yip. It was Barsad who spoke, his eyes big with wonder at the scene. With Bane preoccupied, Lily wriggled free and made a break for the door, shouldering by Barsad who quickly seized her arm halting her departure.

"Get off me, Barsad, I'm warning you!" Lily raved, her cheeks aflame.

"Bane?" Barsad queried, looking over at the hulking warlord whose eyes screamed confusion.

"**What has gotten into you?**" Bane asked, spreading his hands and Lily ripped her arm free of Barsad's grip.

"Nothing, I just want to be alone if you don't mind! Or do I have to ask your permission for everything?"

"**Watch yourself, girl**."

Bane threatened darkly, "**I made you what you are – I can unmake you just as easily**."

"Well," Lily smiled as tears stung her eyes at her own frustration,

"You gave this city back to the _people_; I _am_ a person, and I'm going for a walk."

Throwing herself away from Barsad, Lily flew out of the room quickly so that they would not see the tears rolling down her face. When the door was slammed shut behind her, Barsad turned to Bane and asked,

"Shall I go after her? Or send someone to apprehend her? Bane, her insolence can't be-"

"**Barsad**." Bane said to stem his voice, "**You will not change my mind on the situation regarding Lily, so let it go**."

The merc's throat contracted in his anger but he remained silent until Bane nodded.

"**Go, get her and see that no harm befalls her, people are beginning to recognise her face**."

"No wonder," Barsad hit back shortly, "She and Crane are becoming a duo, a formidable double act."

"**Puppets on my strings**." Bane assured him stoutly and waved a hand, "**Now, go quickly**."

* * *

Lily had never been any good at hiding. Her annoyance had dimmed in the time it had taken her to get back to the hotel. Instead of going back to her room she asked one of the mercs how to get to the top of the building,

"How do I get to the roof?" She asked tersely and the merc faltered,

"Uh...the roof? Why?"

"Does it matter why? I just have to get up there..."

"Whatever, lady," The merc replied with a shrug and pointed at the elevator,

"Take it right up to the top; I'll radio the guys up there to let 'em know you're coming."

It was cold up here, Lily pulled her green coat – recently gotten from the filled chests in the hotel – she pulled it closer and huddled inside the thick material watching the horizon thinking about her situation. The sun was golden, bright on the edge of the skyline; the clouds all stained pink, purple and buttery yellow in the wake of the sun's descent. It was beautiful and chilly, Lily shivered and felt her tears coming again; she swallowed and buried her head in the groove between her knees and sobbed silently; hating herself and everybody who had put her in this predicament. She hated Bane.

She hated him.

"Souris?"

Lily didn't look up and she heard Barsad come closer, his footsteps betraying him. She heard him stop beside her and felt him as he squatted to the cold ground and sat next to her and looked out over the skyline of Gotham.

"What are you doing up here?" He asked carefully.

Slowly Lily raised her head and wiped her eyes while Barsad waited for her response,

"Just wanted to get away."

She answered shortly, her red-rimmed eyes overflowing with tears. Barsad shuffled uncomfortably and looked back out at the dwindling sun and sighed before he leaned back his head and closed his eyes.

"Bane wants you."

He said suddenly and Lily's head snapped in his direction,

"What?"

"He wants you to stay. He won't be swayed on this."

"Oh..." Her eyes lowered, "And that just makes you hate me more, I guess..."

She said bitterly and he smirked, his eyes still shut.

"I don't hate you. I'm impressed with how high you've managed to jump. But you'll rise no higher."

"If you've got anything to do with it?" Lily said knowingly.

"Exactly," Barsad's eyes fluttered open and he got to his feet smoothly.

"I hope you live to see the folly of your misplaced trust, souris – Bane will hurt you in ways you can't even fathom."

He extended a calloused hand to her and Lily took it cautiously and was hauled to her feet.

"Go back inside. Bane's asked for you, he'll see you in his room."

Lily shuddered and pulled her hand back,

"Good luck." Barsad said gleefully as he escorted her back inside.


	24. Yearning for Each Other's Warmth

A/N: Yes, yes; I'm a shameless smut-whore, forgive me. But this is pay off! Hopefully Bane will be a little kinder to Lily now that she knows the drill - ha, yeah right. Okie dokie, the drill _is_, loves, this chapter's rated _**M**_...because Nommy apparently can't contain herself & needs to envision every character in TDK Trilogy...never mind. Please review!

* * *

**XXIV.**

**Yearning for Each Other's Warmth**

Lily took her time getting to Bane's room, stopping off at her own first she threw her coat over the unmade bed and flopped down on it, her hands were shaking and her breath was ragged. She felt nauseated, trapped here with Bane, Barsad and Scarecrow; she pined for normality, she wanted to see John, it actually hurt her chest to think about him and the anxiety she felt whenever she did threatened to overwhelm her. She prayed every day that he wasn't dragged into Scarecrow's courtroom, she genuinely had no idea what she would do if she had to see him thrust down in that seat between the lists of frightening men, judged by Crane...with her standing at his side. Lily sat up, her breath short; was she a villain? No, she told herself; you're just looking out for yourself...

But you haven't saved one person, the very reason you agreed to be Crane's advisor...

A sigh escaped Lily's pale lips; she felt impotent, she knew deep down in her heart of hearts that she didn't get involved with Crane to save anybody, how could she save the life of anyone here? She was one woman alone. That thought depressed her, knowing how cowardly she was and how deep she was falling into madness almost nearly made her retch and no amount of doe eyeing Bane would make him tell her exactly what he wanted or expected of her. She got to her feet doggedly, tired after the day's events and plopped down on a stool before an oval mirror and gazed into it blandly,

Her dark eyes stared back at her and Lily made a face at her outrageous hair and ran her fingers through it thoughtfully watching the brown curls bounce back up like golden springs and sighed again. Her face which was blanched with only a tinge of colour looked tired, unsatisfied and sad; Lily felt all of those things. Tired of her constant anxiety of not knowing what would become of her and what had become of her friend. Sad in general, Lily had been pretty sad before Bane's revolution, only now it was ramped up to a near dizzying level as she looked back over the hotel room, this was neither earned nor hers; the room bore scars of the mercs' mistreatment before their commandeerement, probably ripping some ritzy woman from her bed while she screamed for mercy before they flung her in the pen outside Crane's court. Lily now wore her clothes, looked in her mirror and slept in her bed...She got up irritably and rubbed her neck, she was frustrated with everything.

Barsad's constant enmity, John's whereabouts, his safety and Bane's mixed signals towards her all swam about her brain threatening to make it go into overdrive and she remembered that night she had sat unclothed save for Bane's lavishly warm coat. She longed for that coat...and the arms pulsating within. Lily gasped and shook her head, rolling her shoulders; she absently rubbed her tummy to try and undo the knot,

"No...No! Get a grip of yourself."

Lily scolded herself and wiped her face, her shoulders shaking at her own mad thought process. For a while she paced around the room trying to quiet her noisy mind, but to no avail; she felt like screaming she was so riled up. She wanted to hit something, shout at it and break it until it lay in a heap at her feet; completely destroyed. Balling her fists, Lily's eyes raked over the chest which sat at the foot of her bed and knelt beside it, determinedly she rifled through it and uncovered a lovely black dress; her mouth curved into an indulgent smile.

Lily had no idea she was a fashionista before she had taken up residence at the hotel.

With a cock of one of her eyebrows she quickly disrobed and slipped into the little black dress; it was a little too big, but hardly noticeable and Lily had been wearing hand-me-downs since before she could remember so she cared little as she poked around the room for some shoes. Finding none, she shrugged and opted for bare feet and threw a glance at herself in the mirror; ruffled her hair, and made sure none of her curls were sticking out ungainly and set out down the halls.

Asking one of the many mercs that prowled the hotel for directions to Bane's room, Lily was led down to the bottom floor. She was surprised that Bane should take a meagre room at the bottom, but then realised that it made sense given that he was a soldier and was probably used to far worse accommodation than a base room at a four star hotel. It almost heartened her that Bane had given her a lavish room at the top. She was left to her own devices outside Bane's door and stood frozen before it, her back was so stiff she thought her spine might actually snap but she squared her shoulders and took a breath before she gently rapped the door.

"**Come in**,"

Came Bane's voice from within and Lily entered quietly. When she poked her head through the door, she saw Bane was standing with his back to her; he was on the phone, his voice was low, gruff and oddly exasperated,

"**Yes, okht; everything is proceeding as planned – you have no need to fret**."

Lily saw him nod and let his head fall back as he listened to the person at the other end of the phone; she shuffled her feet, there was a nip in Bane's room and she almost felt foolish for wearing a dress. While he was otherwise incapacitated by a faceless speaker on the phone, Lily peeked around his room; it was bare and uncompromising as a room – a bit like its occupant, it gave nothing away. The walls were adorned with oblique pieces of art which caught Lily's attention, there was nothing gaudy about them and they were interesting.

She didn't realise Bane had stopped talking when she returned her attention to him and he still hadn't turned around but she knew that he knew who it was who had entered. Lily watched him nervously as he placed the phone down on a little table that was laden with a scarlet vase filled with beautifully assorted orchids. He squared his shoulders and blatantly ignored Lily which only irritated her and she cleared her throat a little.

Bane's head was bowed as he stood at the opposite end of the room; Lily stood rigidly by the door one hand on the back of a chair to steady herself. His shoulders were trembling, shaking with fury. She was scared, not of him personally, but if he didn't rein his temper...

"**Why are you here?**"

He asked and Lily felt a shiver, like someone had pressed a bitterly cold finger up against the nape of her neck to hear him ask her that. Was he about to crush her windpipe too? She shrugged shortly and moved back,

"Barsad told me you wanted me...Should I leave?" She asked,

"**No.**" His reply was swift. He knew she'd ask that she realised. "**You're an upstart**."

He spat suddenly and rounded on her, "**Barsad...He was right about you**."

Lily's brows quirked. To hear Bane say that Barsad was right about her made her fearful, Bane was her meal ticket in a sense, if he stopped backing her then she'd surely be killed faster than a fat cat. She moved closer, the moment her face was bathed in the soft light, Bane looked away;

"Why do you never look at me?" Lily asked mildly.

"**You and your questions**..." He grumbled and peered at her; "**Why should I look at you?**"

"Because you want to." Lily responded tartly, her eyebrow raised defiantly.

"**Do I?**" He challenged and Lily accepted; squaring her shoulders.

She was no longer a nobody, she had influence; she had power now that she could wield. Power which _he'd _given her, well it _was _his power – but it wasn't like anybody else knew that. She wouldn't be shoved aside by this mammoth warlord; was it not he who saw fit to lift Lily from the gutter? His eyes trailed over her with her new empowered expression; her eyes were positively flinty as she stood there before him, chin in the air; an impertinent little cock of her eyebrow and the rigidness of her spine made him want to break her into the broken mess she had been before. Lily standing before him, not needing him was like a thorn in his paw.

Being a lousy mouse; Lily would never remove it. Power was rare; and one had to grasp at what they could get.

"Yes." She stated simply, "...you _do_."

He turned; all his masculinity was crushed into that imposing moment as he made his way across the room with that same, familiar easy swagger that told Lily that his sentimentality for her truly did hang by a fraying thread. She could see the warning lights behind him; she could hear the alarm bells ringing in her own brain, and yet still she felt she could taunt this beast of a man and get away with it.

_An upstart indeed_...

"**I gave Gotham to the people, and you may be one of us but if you so much as open your mouth one more time; believe me when I say, Miss Bell, I'll raze Crane from his very bed if I have to, to see you **_**punished**_."

Lily felt a fluttering of fear then, but she hauled it away and drew herself up to her unimpressive height.

"Such a big king, not even ruling his own little kingdom...Death by ice? It didn't kill me before..."

"**I rule!**" He barked, slamming a hand into the wall behind Lily's shoulder. She flinched, but eyed him confidently,

"**I rule as I see fit. You are here at my discretion. You and you're stock are easily come by, so don't test me-**"

"Then I think myself lucky that I had to do so little to have so much of your discretion."

She reiterated to him what he had said to her down in the sewers and she saw his fury at her using his own words against him. With that she turned on her heel but felt Bane's fingers clamp around her arm and twist her round to face him. She met his eyes; her throat contracting in the face of his rage; she was perfectly terrified standing there before him swaying in his grip but she frowned when his grasp slackened and his eyes slid away.

"No..." She pleaded so softly, he didn't even look back.

Gingerly touching his face, she felt him tense and stiffen before her; his body as rigid as a boulder, she had never touched him of her own volition before. Slowly, she coerced him gently round till his face was at least pointed in her direction; her eyes were soft, big and dark like a doe's and Bane sighed through his vicious-looking mask. He returned the caress, laboriously as though he was scorched at the mere touch of her and placed a big hand on her supple cheek; the tips of his fingers gently ghosted her hair.

"**You're ruining everything**..." He said at last and Lily frowned,

"I'll ask you again...do you want me to go?"

She waited with baited breath, she had calmed the monster; replaced his red-hot anger with a dwindling grey melancholy which he usually bore with good cheer, but tonight he seemed to resent her giving him grey.

"**Yes**."

He ruled and turned away. Sucking in a breath, Lily tried not to tremble as she made her way over to the door. Her hand on the handle, she stopped a moment. Silence. Lily sighed again and opened the door; but she gasped in fright when a hand slammed down on the wood of the door; closing it indefinitely. She whipped round and her eyes fell on Bane; his arm slung up over her head still pressed on the door and his mammoth height towering, she sighed back against the door and felt his hand trace her arm and leave her skin a prickled mess by the time his hand had journeyed to her neck. His hand lingered there and Lily thought for a crazy moment that he would just end it here; snap her vulnerably slim neck and rid himself of this thorn, but he didn't.

Slowly as if he was testing the water, he moved in and Lily wondered what he would do. The confines of his mask barred her lips from his and she ached for him to kiss her. She thought she had maybe found him attractive since the day he plucked her from the dark, then she brushed that thought away; of course she hadn't. His presence, his nature and his sheer assuredness were what attracted Lily to him and she'd only realised it when she'd got back to the surface. Bane was a man with a plan, but he was forsaking it slightly in even being this close to her; he had done more for her than anybody in her life. He had taken care of her, he had comforted her; she had given him next to no repayment for all he had done for her.

"What do you want from me?" She breathed as his mask pressed up against the base of her neck,

She could see his shoulders twitching with the effort to either keep himself pressed up against the door so he didn't squash her, or he was trying to restrain himself from something else. Bane was a very physically strong man. Lily's eyes closed as she felt the whoosh of air from his mask, but she made no move to touch him. Bane was a prideful man, masculine, and uncompromising, not sentimental, either. If he wanted to do this; then he would need to instigate it fully, Lily would not be held responsible for what she'd wanted him to do since...God-knows-when Lily's brain had just utterly broke and coveted his touch.

Her breath caught and she found herself wringing her hands between them both; he leaned out and looked down thoughtfully. He stood back and Lily was thankful; when he wasn't so close she could think. As delicate as ever, Bane took Lily's hands and gazed at them,

"I still can't weep..." Lily offered almost sadly and Bane peered at her, his slit brow cocked. Lily smiled softly,

"I can still only count my dead on that finger." She said nodding to her right index finger and Bane chuckled.

"**No, you can't...Lily, why did I take you down to the sewers that night?**"

"I don't know..." Lily shook her head and rubbed his hand with her thumb. "Do you wish you hadn't?"

"**Yes...sometimes I wish that. Then my task would be a simpler one. A mission I could revel in before I laid eyes on you. You're an upstart who barely deserves anything, but your determination to survive moves me**."

He said quietly while Lily frowned at his veiled insults. Her pique died when he touched her cheek and ran a finger down her face till he traced her chin,

"**It moves me more than anything else I've ever seen...And I think sometimes I hate you for it...but the fault's my own. You don't deserve agony**..."

Bane's voice was saddened, mournful; it made Lily's brows quirk up at him and she dislodged her hands from his and reached up meekly; he watched her carefully, not coming forward nor drawing back. He just eyed her with that same mixture of curiosity and oddity. Was she really the weirdest woman he'd ever met? He who had been all around the world? Who was learned and far above an insignificant person like Lillian Bell? He observed coolly, Lily reach up and graze her slim fingers over the twisted tubes of his mask. He heard her sigh; she wanted that thing off his face.

Stepping onto his steel-toed boots, Lily smiled – dimples flashing – when he frowned and gripped her waist, she assumed to throw her away from him, but seeing her smile, his suspicions quelled somewhat and he let her get on with whatever it was that she was doing. Lily's face grew sober as she concentrated on his strangely attractive face; those dark eyes blazing above a dangerous-looking mask. He was a striking man, the most striking she had ever met or saw to be honest and she would be a liar if she said that she didn't melt when he pressed his big hands into her waist to keep her slim body pressed against the sheer mass of him. It was intoxicatingly safe, warm and erotic. Still standing on his boots, Lily frowned and bit her lip only slightly, nothing bawdy, and placed a hand on Bane's face and lightly pressed a kiss against the gnarled metal of his mask.

"I don't know what to do with you..." Lily whispered against the metal confessionally.

They were like a pair of absolute idiots just plodding along, unable to know what the other wanted, unwilling to come any closer should they dislike what they found, but tonight Lily thought she had it figured out; she would lead him, Bane didn't seem like he knew how to approach a woman like Lily (and to be honest, Lily didn't even know how one would approach a woman like herself.)

She ran her fingers along his cheek and leant back, his fingers pressed firmly but softly against her waist and she felt his strength radiate, held back; Lily knew he could snap her willowy frame like a toothpick if he so desired, but he never did, no matter how annoying or inquisitive, disrespectful or ungrateful she could seem or _be_...

"**Now you share my burden**," He retorted almost playfully and Lily blushed.

"**You asked why I couldn't look at you...I could, I could look at you all day – you are such a small thing. So thoroughly dispirited by this city, that alone almost makes this revolution justified**."

"So...you actually care?" Lily asked quietly and he nodded,

"**Of course. The moment I looked down and nearly tripped over you're lifeless body I knew I had to pick you up...The chapters of my life are colourful**-"

"I'll bet." Lily interjected and he went on,

"**They are colourful; death, misery, corruption and pain, fighting, breaking and hurting all take precedence as the things which took place the most frequently, and I revel in all of them. However, the one thing I could never allow or condone is the mistreatment or murder of a woman**."

"That's very...noble," Lily said thoughtfully and she snaked her hands round his huge shoulders.

"**Sometimes...I saved a woman once; I did it for a noble cause, redemption...The second...**"

Lily's heart hammered in her chest, so hard she thought Bane could probably feel it thumping against his own chest. She gazed up at him expectantly; when he was silent she prodded,

"Why did you save the other woman?"

He looked down squarely into her face and ran a hand along one of Lily's angled cheeks and said softly,

"**I had hoped for repayment when she was willing**."

Lily arched an eyebrow and said grandly,

"You couldn't have _that_ much foresight. But she'll accept that excuse for now."

Her response made him lean back to look at her; an eyebrow rose,

"**Inquisitive and insightful, I was right to save you then**."

Lily smiled and gave a little start as he bundled her up in his arms and turned, making his way over to the sprawling made-up bed, he gently placed Lily down on it like she was a delicate china doll. Her breath was tattered, and Bane's eyes narrowed; his big hand slid slowly up Lily's neck, her pulse quickened at his seemingly always warm touch and she closed her eyes enjoying his hand on her sensitive neck. She breathed in and the raggedness had disappeared; opening her eyes, they locked with Bane's equally dark ones as they roved over her features, welcoming and soft, he looked like he had waited a long time for Lily's face to mirror his own want.

Bane knelt before her, his show of grace amazed Lily as it always did for such an Olympic man, Bane certainly had the finesse of a jungle cat. He was as tall as Lily, kneeling before her as she sat on the edge of the bed, he gently parted her legs and pulled her closer against his body; making her sigh at the closeness. His hands were huge and soft, like padded paws it was intriguing to feel his touch, Lily marvelled at his demonstration of gentleness; she had never been with a man like Bane, her liaisons were few and far between but she knew enough through osmosis alone but timidly touched Bane's chest, feeling the warmth of him seep through his black t-shirt and into her palms while his hands cascaded her lithe body.

His hands made their journey back up while Lily's head almost lolled at his trace, they stopped at her shoulders and hovered over the dress straps; Lily looked into his eyes, they were on her face awaiting her assent to flick off the little strips of material; she nodded slowly and he complied very easily with one motion, his two wrists twirled and the fabric was off her shoulders dismissively and slipping down her pale, creamy arms. A growl in his throat made Lily wish to move closer, she did so, her mouth connected with Bane's throat as his hands pressed against her back which was quickly being revealed to him at the imminent loss of her dress. Standing, she was only a head taller than Bane; she smiled warmly down on him and allowed her dress to fall away from her.

The mercenary's eyes remained on her face even at the loss of her dress; it was a moment before he registered it and took advantage of it. He got to his feet smoothly, towering over Lily; she blinked at his mass and her throat contracted. In all her life she had never been with a man and never kissed, she thought that it would be rather dry without the constant contact of mouths, but Bane's very touch seemed to ignite her in ways she didn't think possible as he pressed a hand to her thudding chest and cupped her breast, his warm hand tracing the soft flesh making Lily mewl and close her eyes as his other pressed her close to him by the small of her back. She could feel his arousal for her and it made her sigh, she tilted her head to the side as Bane leant down and pressed the cold tubes of his mask against her neck sending shivers down her spin. Reaching towards his waistline, Lily tentatively nipped the fabric of his shirt free and loosened it with wry smile up at him;

He looked down warily, cocking an eyebrow he saw her bite her lip – this time she was being bawdy. He inclined his head that she could remove his shirt and he knelt before her again, his hands encasing her hips as she pulled the shirt over his head and he got back up allowing Lily to fully admire his torso. Scars vandalised the hard flesh, not as mutilated as his scalp which was literally covered in small white marks. Lily traced a hand across one which ran along the length of his chest and Bane watched her with his usual idleness as she earnestly examined his battered, then healed, body. Only it wasn't healed. Lily looked up and her eyes rested on the mask;

"Why do you wear it?" She asked softly.

He looked away, his hands still absently caressing her almost nervously. Did he think he was losing her because of her question? Lily quelled that thought if he had it and went up on the balls of her feet, kissing his collar bone delicately she heard him sigh before she pulled back and smiled tenderly;

"**I wear it because the pain is too great to bear**." His tone was maudlin and made Lily sad.

She wasn't sure if he was being allegorical or not, so she shrugged and abandoned her inquisition about the mask and returned her gaze to his chest. Bane seemed surprised by this and enquired,

"**You're giving up?**"

Lily peered up, her face perfectly serious and she shook her head, her hands running along his warm flesh,

"You never tell me what I want to know...This doesn't seem like the _time_ to chase you for answers."

His eyes crinkled on either side and he appeared to be amused with her answer,

"**You're learning**."

Was all he said before he hefted Lily up, his hands gripping her firmly; she twisted her short legs round his fit waist and smiled at him. Her mouth was centimetres from his mask and she planted another soft kiss on it and he frowned slightly,

"**Nobody's ever done that before**..."

Lily's brow knitted together at the oddity of him, it made her smile slightly and she touched his cheek affectionately and said,

"It's about time you had a first, since you've been everywhere and done everything...I've had so many 'firsts' these last few months, it's fitting for you to get a taste of your own medicine."

One of his brows rose challengingly and Lily held her breath as she felt his arms clench around her tiny body, swooping smoothly down onto the bed, Bane lay her down so suddenly and without any break or jar, Lily found herself laid back with Bane draped over her, one of his powerful arms keeping him aloft above her whilst the other ran along her ribcage, teasing her breasts; Lily let out another sigh as he rubbed them until they peaked, her arousal was evident by her squirming and the heat she could feel between her legs which were wrapped around Bane's maddeningly clothed waist.

His eyes were blazing hungrily as he eyed her, writhing as she was in her excitement, she watched blearily as he reached down between her thighs and felt her sex; she gasped and bucked her hips willing him to impale her, to have her and take her until she fell into the darkness of slumber. She gripped his shoulders and lifted herself up towards his body, pressing her erect nipples against his solid chest which made him groan and without preamble he slid his fingers inside her making her gasp. Their rhythm was founded easily and quickly, Bane watched almost curiously as Lily took on a bold new light, holding his gaze while he pleasured her, only looking away when he hit a particularly sweet spot and she had to throw her head back exposing her kissable throat to him which he was at a loath to be unable to.

When he retracted his fingers from her core it was to disrobe himself of his trousers, which Lily watched with good humour, him already seeing her naked on more than one occasion it only seemed fair that she should see him too. She sighed audibly when he flung away his clothes and gently pulled her towards him, his forearms locked around the crook of her knees. Lily's dark eyes only grew darker as he impaled her, the sudden sensation made Lily arch her back and press herself against him deeper; he groaned tightly and ran both of his hands along Lily's torso, enjoying the smoothness of her pale skin, revelling in the soft sighs her lips allowed to pass as he thrust up into her making her moan in satisfaction. Again, their rhythm was quick to find and easy to keep, Bane was strong enough to keep a good pace and Lily was so tiny he could easily move her about to his whim. He lifted her off of the bed, his strong arms groped roughly at her back making her close her eyes and grit her teeth; she sat astride him as he sat up on his ankles; keeping her aloft with his immense strength; that alone drove Lily nearly over the edge.

A fine layer of sweat began to glisten on Lily after a while, while Bane remained dry and smooth; although this was due to Lily's ailments, as it was with her dwindling pneumonia; Bane still wondered at the shining contours of her body, which was as light as a child's and had the look of a child's when embedded under layers upon layers of ugly coat-jackets. Now as she rolled her hips, panting alongside him as their bodies rocked in unison; she took on a new image, one of sensual desire, one which Bane had only dreamed at as she clenched her body in a way which made him reach his climax; his body enfolded hers as she released too and they lay there for a long moment breathing hard before Bane looked up from the groove in Lily's neck he was panting in.

"**Are you alright?**" He asked oddly.

Lily smiled lazily and absently raked her fingers through her hair to cool herself and placed both her hands on his face; his eyes were intense as he watched her;

"I'm fine...Better than fine. Can I sleep here tonight?"

"**Yes**." He replied, allowing Lily to run her fingers over his mask.

"I still haven't forgotten about that mask, y'know."

"**I'd be disappointed if you had; I expect a lot of questions from you before I find rest**."


	25. And So, She Drifts

**Chapter XXV.**

**And So, She Drifts...**

Lily's eyes opened, blinking blearily she felt Bane lying beside her; his breath even and unobtrusive, yet she could not sleep. She rolled onto her side slowly, languidly enjoying his heat but at the same time she felt something foreboding stir inside her gut, like pressure was building up in her head making her want to cry out.

She let out a breath and felt Bane shift slightly, as unobtrusive as his breathing, she knew he was awake and she sat up, keeping her smooth white back to him, she sighed and shivered as his hand slowly, very slowly traced her spine. Did she take pleasure in his soft caress? Yes she did. Was she ashamed of what she had just done with him, this terrorist, this monster; surprisingly, no. Another breath was released and Lily rubbed her eyes, tears stung at the corners and she heard her own shuddering inhalation tremble in the wake of her and his own animalistic urges.

"**You are troubled**..." Bane said in the darkness and Lily nodded mutely, "**Tell me**."

His voice was a command, gentle and almost interested. Lily let her head loll back as he ran a calloused finger along one of her jutting shoulder blades; she didn't know what fought off slumber tonight but she knew this man had something to do with it and she turned, her eyes dark and shadowed in the half-light. She thought she saw his brows quirk in a small frown but he didn't move; indolent as his movements always were, he lay there and waited for her to come to him like she was a timid deer and indeed – compared to him – this was what she was.

"I can't sleep," She offered uselessly and he chuckled quietly,

"**This much is evident by your wakefulness**." Bane's condescension was like that of a parent's.

Lily only mildly resented it and shrugged carelessly; the light from the shrouded city of Gotham did not flood his ground floor room, it glowed in through the windows casting an orange hue over her pale face. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears as her straight gaze pierced the waxed glass and she heard Bane sigh through the confines of his mask and move slightly. He sat up, dwarfing Lily as he always did and his arm came around her slight shoulders, a mass of warmth and hard flesh which made her belly knot with lust but also made her brain squawk with indignation. What the hell was she doing? How could she be attracted to a man who blew up half the city, her home? Who imprisoned the police underneath the city and maybe hurt her best friend?

She shuffled away from him, the distance betwixt them was meagre but Lily thought it felt like they were a desert apart. Her mind was swimming in doubt, she knew that when all this was over – for it had to end, even Crane had said so himself – what would become of her? She would be thrown into Blackgate; too many people identified her face with that of Bane's. That thought sparked another; did she _want_ this to end? Of course she did, Lily was a good person...wasn't she? Was she good to go along with this under the paper-thin premise that she was 'looking out for herself'? No, she was not she concluded and felt disgusted in herself and peered over at Bane who was staring at her, waiting for her to speak.

"**Do you want to go back upstairs?**" He asked finally and Lily shook her head,

"I don't want to be here full stop." Her voice sounded sharper than she had meant it to. Hushed with anger.

Bane did not flinch at her irritation, for what could she really do to him? Her strength was akin to that of his little finger, her will even weaker still. She should have resisted, fought back, left the tunnels when he said she could. As if he read her thoughts, Bane said;

"**No body's keeping you here, Lily. You've always been free to leave**."

"I know." Was all she mumbled and she felt him shrug,

"**So why didn't you?**"

Lily knew why and pulled her bare knees up to her chest and wrapped her skinny arms around herself,

"Because I felt safe." She said simply and glanced over to him; his head was bowed, he was not looking at her.

"**I can understand that**." Bane's tone was subdued and Lily almost felt a pang of guilt.

But what did she have to feel guilty for? Was Gotham not the corrupt play ground for the rich kids as Bane had illuminated and extinguished with equal disdain? Was she not downtrodden and flattened beneath the heels of them who could have helped her? Did Bane not take her in and watch over her recovery personally when he had absolutely no reason to? Did he not risk his second-in-command's enmity to have her? She looked at him carefully and bit her lip; he was willing to do all that and more, he protected her, made her feel safe and wanted but to what end? To be a plaything while he played at warlord? Lily brushed that thought away, banishing it from her mind; Bane did not _play_ at anything.

It was obvious that his men respected and feared him, but not respected him out of fear. Bane made sure that any battles fought, he would be in the fray with his men; he would strike her, someone who she supposed cared for – given all that which he had done for her – to make an example. He would not abandon them for anything or anyone.

Bane was committed to his liberation and so were his men.

With her head so filled with thoughts and reservation, Lily shook it and exhaled heavily; her shoulders slumped. At last she sidled back nearer to Bane; her little body pressed into his flank intimately, he was just human after all why did she think that he wouldn't care or bother with what was rattling around her brain? Affectionately she placed her curly head up against his arm and muttered in the darkness,

"I'm sorry."

Without a word he lifted his arm and engulfed her in heat and sighed just as heavily as her. They sat like that for a while together, like the two damaged animals they were until Lily's eyelids began to grow heavy and her head sagged downwards. She could only vaguely sense Bane as he lowered her down back into bed, tucking the blankets around her like she was a baby. A frown of concern puckered her brow when she felt him get up and leave her alone in the bed; dull panic surged, was he going to leave her there? Her panic was misplaced; he returned shortly and wrapped his arms around her, lying beside her comfortably and she could feel that his legs were clothed now. Their lustfulness discarded for tonight and to some degree, Lily was thankful for that and mumbled sleepily before slumber consumed her.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me..."

And with that she allowed herself to drift.


End file.
